“An extra yawn one morning in the springtime, an extra snooze one night in the autumn is all that we ask in return for dazzling gifts. We borrow an hour one night in April; we pay it back with golden interest five months later.” -Winston Churchill
Did you remember to spring forward this morning and make it to church on time? Most of us at our little church were on time, even me. Most of the folks at my church look at their watches in disbelief and wonder if they are late if I beat them to church on Sunday mornings. I always aim to be on time, but then I’ll think I can do one more thing before I leave and the clocks somehow go into double quick time and before I know it, I’m running late. It’s a good thing my church family is so tolerant and forgiving.
But I have to admit to doing a little extra yawning this morning the way Winston Churchill said in his quote above and it’ll probably be worse tomorrow when I get up to start writing. I’ll be nodding at my computer and hoping I can think up the right words in my sleep. My mom and sister and I were talking about what we remembered about Daylight Saving Time around here. Actually when I was a kid we were in the Central Time Zone, but changed to the Eastern Time Zone to keep from going on Daylight Saving Time every summer. That lasted a few years until the powers that be put us back on DST but we stayed in the Eastern Time Zone.
Anyway I decided to do a little history searching to see when DST started. Benjamin Franklin thought it would be a great idea in 1784, but not enough people agreed to get it started then. It wasn’t until 1918 that the U.S. first implemented DST to help with energy saving until the end of WW I, but DST proved so unpopular that the order was repealed after 1919. It wasn’t until the nation entered the Second World War that Daylight Saving Time was brought back to once again save energy for the war effort. The nation moved the clocks one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time year round from 1942 to 1945. In England they also moved the clocks ahead one hour year round during the war and in the summer they had Double Summer Time when they moved the clocks ahead two hours.
After 1945, states and municipalities were free to observe or not observe DST on whatever schedule they decided to set. This caused so much confusion with train and bus schedules and television and radio program listings that Congress passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966 in an effort to standardize the time throughout the country. Areas of the country were still free to not observe DST if they passed a local ordinance, but if they did decide on DST they had to start it on the last Sunday in April and end it on the last Sunday in October. This stayed the timetable until 1986 when the beginning time was moved to the first Sunday in April. And now it’s been moved up another couple of weeks.
So that’s a little history of why we have DST. Now the question is do you like it? Are you happy with having that extra yawn in the spring and do you think it does present us with dazzling gifts of more sunshine after our work or school days?
I like it okay once a few days pass and I’m used to the new schedule. And in the summer it’s daylight around here until way past nine o’clock. Plenty of time for gardening or walking. Not as much time for sleeping. Of course what I really like is the spring sunshine whatever time it is. And it felt like spring here this weekend – finally. Perhaps too much like it tonight with storm warnings out.
We went to WV to babysit the twins and their big sister Friday. They’re growing fast. Already almost sitting up and ready to smile everytime anybody looks at them. Big sisters are all doing well too. One thing sure, there’s always a baby to hold right now in that household. I can’t even imagine how people manage with triplets or more.
Hope you all had a good Sunday.