Spring Forward

This is the weekend when the clocks are turned forward by an hour to British Summer Time and in the autumn they will be turned back again to Greenwich Mean Time. It's easy to remember "Spring forward, Fall back" but in this increasingly technological age, I ask is it really necessary any more?


There are arguments both for and against, one of them being that it keeps us in line with our European neighbours for business dealings but as much business is now conducted by the internet and outside normal working hours, this is fast losing any credence. There are also concerns about children travelling to and from school in the dark especially in the northern counties and Scotland but again, surely start and finish times could easily be adjusted to overcome this.

On a personal note and I'm sure it applies to many other people too, it takes my body clock about a fortnight to adjust to the change which means for approximately one month per year, I'm out of sync with everything. I firmly believe it's time for this nonsense to stop. I don't care whether it's GMT or BST, we should just decide on one and stick with it. Although many digital clocks and appliances update automatically think of the cumulative amount of time spent each year changing others manually.

We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.- H. G. Wells (1866 - 1946)