Official Explaination Of Why We Put The Clocks Back

[renegadefm]

Here is an official explanation of why we adopted the reason behind putting the clocks back in October :

 

Why do we change the clocks?
 

We change the clocks to get the most out of the daylight.

The first clock change was introduced by the German government in 1916 during the First World War as a means of saving electricity with more daylight hours.

Many European governments followed suit, including Britain, and British Summer Time was born, with the current system in place since 1971.

 

Explanation over, but am I missing something here, we gain more light in the morning, but lose it in the evening, so it doesn't save energy because lights and everything will be turned on sooner at the end of the day compared to the start. 

 

Or am I just missing something here? 

[Old_Geezer]

Even if true, that seems to be the German excuse for doing so, not necessarily of any nation following suit. Although I'm inclined to suspect the reason given was either badly worded or else was just an answer that got irritating questioners off someone's back.

[jno]

the idea came from down under

https://theweek.com/articles/684961/how-new-zealand-insect-hunter-created-daylight-saving-time

[renegadefm]

I just found this:

 

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/news-opinion/your-say-should-scrap-putting-9655128#comments-wrapper

 

Its surprising how many people would rather we keep the clocks set to BST in the comments. 

[Canary42]

I remember the time we trialled it - I didn't like it.

[Cloverjo]

Maybe we should go back just

half an hour this month and leave it there forever. Keep everyone happy.

I've been in Sweden during their winter, and their afternoons and would feel like the middle of the night to us. They all just get on with day. Not depressing at all.

[renegadefm]

Cloverjo, 

I can't speak for everyone, but for me its the sudden adjustment of having to try and work out mentally why its now pitch black at tea time, typical family tea time is 4.30pm or 5pm I would say.

 

I know it sounds dramatic, but that sudden loss of day light affects my mental wellbeing. 

 

If we didn't bother to change the clocks the adjustment to darker evenings would be much more gradual. 

 

The evenings start to get slowly darker from as early as August. Normally someone around would say, my God isn't the evenings pulling in. I can cope with that because we can't change where we live, well unless we emigrate. But to exaggerate the issue by putting the clocks back another hour, just seems to rub salt into the wound. Well for me anyway. 

But reading people's comments on the link I posted earlier, it seems I am not alone. 

Someone mentioned about altering the clocks affects their sleep patterns. I can relate to that because having an extra hour in bed or hour less doesn't do anyone any favours. 

 

I do however think I am in the minority of wanting to just keep the clocks set to BST.  So it probably won't happen in my lifetime. I just got to live with it.