29th Oct: The Longest Day of the Year
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Of course, that honour officially sits with the 21st June, when the sun rises at 4:42 a.m. and sets at 9:21 p.m.. But from a psychological perspective, today wins.
Yesterday, the first day after British Summer Time ends, was just a bit of a shock. Oh, it's so late. Oh no, it's not. I guess I'll just go to bed early.
But on Monday, faced with a regular workday, what feels like 5:00 (hey, only a few more hours!) is actually 4:00 (its only mid-afternoon!). Hence the very long day.
By Tuesday the 30th, the darkness is yesterday's news, and we begin our winter hibernation.
This year, the US "falls back" two weeks later than last year (on 4th November), and also this year, they started two weeks earlier. This is because the Energy Policy Act of 2005 estimated that 10K barrels of oil would be saved each day due to businesses requiring less power during daytime hours.
One could ask why we don't keep it year round, and there are some people who do.
In fact, Britain did observe it year-round in 1940-1945 and 1968-1971, the second time to see if the number of accidental deaths which took place during GMT would be decreased. And they were, but farmers and outdoor workers regularly oppose such a change, though the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (and a lot of other people) support it.
British Summer Time is also known as Western European Summer Time, started in 1916, and in 2002, the dates were changed to line up with Europe.
1916 also saw the United Kingdom move to one time zone, when Dublin Mean Time (previously GMT -25) was abolished.
Just an interesting fact to help this day pass more quickly.
But on Monday, faced with a regular workday, what feels like 5:00 (hey, only a few more hours!) is actually 4:00 (its only mid-afternoon!). Hence the very long day.
By Tuesday the 30th, the darkness is yesterday's news, and we begin our winter hibernation.
This year, the US "falls back" two weeks later than last year (on 4th November), and also this year, they started two weeks earlier. This is because the Energy Policy Act of 2005 estimated that 10K barrels of oil would be saved each day due to businesses requiring less power during daytime hours.
One could ask why we don't keep it year round, and there are some people who do.
In fact, Britain did observe it year-round in 1940-1945 and 1968-1971, the second time to see if the number of accidental deaths which took place during GMT would be decreased. And they were, but farmers and outdoor workers regularly oppose such a change, though the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (and a lot of other people) support it.
British Summer Time is also known as Western European Summer Time, started in 1916, and in 2002, the dates were changed to line up with Europe.
1916 also saw the United Kingdom move to one time zone, when Dublin Mean Time (previously GMT -25) was abolished.
Just an interesting fact to help this day pass more quickly.
