Perpetual Ruminations

The Times, They are Changing

Yes, we did remember to set the clocks back last night, we usually do. It was a bit rough on my wife who had to work this morning, early, but it went better than the last time we changed them for Daylight Savings Time. Jumping ahead one hour seems to always mess us up, and I suffer a form of jet-lag as a result. It takes me a few weeks to adjust to the change. This going back, however, seems to fit right in with my internal clock, indicating that perhaps I never fully adjust to the spring time change.

Even the terminology of the change makes sense, fall back. Yes, we fall back into real time as well as turning the clocks back or falling back. I tend to see less griping and complaining with the fall change, too. In fact, I only am aware of one person who gripes about it. She usually states something like, "I like setting the clocks back so it gets dark one hour sooner, said no one ever."

But, little does she know, I do like setting them back; back to normal. In argument of her statement, I could say, "Yeah but it's light out one hour earlier." Or, "The clock isn't responsible for the shorter hours of daylight, the season is."

I like the saying about Daylight Savings Time that states that it's like cutting a foot off the bottom of your blanket and sewing it to the top to make it longer. It fits the situation accurately in that it does not make the blanket any longer, it just frays the edges like the time change frays my nerves. In the fall, we just start over with a new blanket that is not frayed or cut up yet. Wait till spring to ruin another perfectly good blanket.

Perhaps it's just me who enjoys going back to real time and giving up on the idea that changing the clock actually saves me any time. Seriously, I can do just fine with the time left alone. If I want to take advantage of the longer summer days and more hours of sunlight, I can set my alarm and get up earlier without any help from a bureaucracy. In fact, if they left the damn clock alone, I could get up earlier in the summer and enjoy that extra daylight before having to go to work instead of messing up Father Time and ensuring that we are all up early and working earlier.

Perhaps, like I said, I am the only one who likes getting back to real time, but then again, since there is so little griping during the fall time change, we are the majority. Perhaps you say, who gives a rat's ass about it? Well, I think I just said... "I do, and I'm glad we fell back."