Last night, daylight saving finished and the clocks were put back one hour to New Zealand Standard Time. I’ve always considered it an usual term, “daylight saving”. Imagine for a moment the possibility of being able to save daylight for later use. Wouldn’t that be great? Well, yes and no. Undoubtedly it would result in some sort of conflict. Daylight saving rules would have to be put in place, on who gets to save how much, when it can be used, how much “daylight interest” can be earned, and so forth. Then there would be the scenario of getting into daylight debt—oh, I see, here comes the Daylight Credit Card—good as gold!
The British refer to daylight saving as summer time, equivalent to Sommerzeit in German, and heure d’été in French. Whatever the terminology, over the years I’ve listened to some heated debates on the pros and cons of daylight saving. How could tweaking a time zone cause such intense deliberation?
Perhaps it shows how much our lives revolve around a set timetable. The alarm clock rings at a set time, work hours are fixed, traffic jams occur with peculiar regularity, meal breaks are scheduled, as are TV programmes, sports events and club meetings, and the list goes on…
If it wasn’t for our timetabled and scheduled lives, daylight saving would be irrelevant. After all, our planet keeps on orbiting the sun, the seasons come and go, no matter how we arrange our time zones. I often become aware of that when I go tramping in New Zealand’s wilderness, away from schedules and any electricity. I get up at dawn and hit the sack at nightfall; I make most of the daylight in between—whether it’s saved or unsaved!
Sunrise at Anapai Bay, Abel Tasman National Park
For more photos please refer to my sunrise or sunset gallery.
To view my other snowy photos please 