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29 October 2010

Free for All Friday No. 102

To paraphrase Andy Williams, it's the Most Confusing Time Of The Year!

One of the most wonderful things our Filofaxes do for us is remind us when to turn oury clocks forward or back. And I don't just mean the old "spring forward, fall back" mnemonic. All Filofax diaries have the reminder printed on the exact date the change takes place.

In Europe, Summer Time ends on October 31. In the USA and Canada, our friendly neighbor to the north, Daylight Saving Time ends on Nov 7, one week later. You can set your clock back the night before or first thing the following morning. For radio and TV stations that operate all night, the change usually takes place at 2 a.m. The hour between 2 and 3 a.m. simply goes away.

The seasonal time change idea is variously credited to Benjamin Franklin and George Vernon Hudson, both of whom had reasons for making the most of the early morning hours.

Right now, I dislike the darkness of night at 7 a.m. more than I dislike it at 5 p.m., so I'm looking forward to my local DST.

How about you?

13 comments:

  1. Every year for the past 15 years I have been away at some workshop or conference or whatever for my volunteer job on the weekends the clocks change. On the Saturday evening we are exhorted to change our clocks, reminded endlessly of the time change. Off we'd go home on Sunday and, without fail, I would wake up Monday with all my clocks saying the wrong time. When the US and Canada changed the dates for the change, the organisation changed the dates of it's workshops. The powers that be say it was booking issues but I'm not buying it.

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  2. I moan every 6 months or twice a year about the number of clocks I have to go around the house changing. I've not done a 'count' at this new place I will find out this weekend. I suspect it's slightly less than the UK house.

    It's just one of those chores! Remembering which buttons to press on this appliance or that one...

    Thank goodness our Filofax organisers don't need their clocks changing... there would be quite a few to do!!

    Quite a few of my things sync to the internet, or via radio(wireless) to DCF77 or MSF Rugby for their time signals including my watch so they don't need changing they switch automatically.

    A long time ago I used to work shifts (I was a lot younger then!) and working nights on clock change weekend was bad news. One of them you worked an hour less. The other you worked the same hour twice! But didn't get paid any more. It balanced out I suppose! Working Christmas and New Year on nights was the worse bit though, even though is was fairly quiet. Another chapter for my book one day I suppose!!

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  3. Steve tell me about it. Shift work was a nightmare! For years I was always the 'mug' working hospital nights when the clocks went back! One time the person taking over from me was almost 2 hrs late for his shift and had the nerve to blame the clocks. He got a telling off!!! Christmas and New Year was always awful but all the staff would try to cheer each other up and you would get a day in lieu.
    Now in public health land I dont have to worry too much as on call is done via a phone. Yay! Look forward to an extra hour of sleep this weekend. I only have 3 clocks to change so not too bad. I dislike both the dark evenings and mornings so now is when I wish I was back in the Caribbean!

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  4. Being a mother of 4 young children, I absolute hate those clock changes, no matter which way. It takes the kids weeks to re-adjust, throwing my schedules off-balance as well .... ;-)

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  5. Judith
    I came across this article last night it might help:

    http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/home/clocks-going-back-affect-babies-toddlers-article-ez4w.html

    Oh and should your comment have started with a 'young' mother with 4 children? ;-)

    Hope the children aren't too bad
    Regards
    Steve

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  6. Don't mind adjusting the clocks, but leaving the house early in he morning to beat traffic in the dark and then driving home in the dark is the part I'm not thrilled about....

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  7. Thanks people for your advice about choosing a "hard" leather Filofax last Friday. Today I visited WHSmith and had look/touch. I liked the Finsbury the best. It was £45 in Smiths, I checked it on-line and WHSMiths website have it for £18 at the moment. Which is a real bargain. They don't price match with themselves, I asked ;-( So ordered online.

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  8. I just gave my wife her first Filofax. A pink Classic A5 with the Family Organizer inserts. She's getting it set up and so far loves it, and is thinking hard about exactly how she wants to set up her system.

    I had stepped away from using Filofax for the past couple of years, but am returning to it for 2011 and will be glad to be back.

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  9. Gareth, you won't be sorry. The Finsbury is a great binder. It's a wee bit stiff at first, but the more you handle it, the faster it limbers up. I'm new to Filofax as of purchasing my aqua Finsbury a few months ago and I haven't looked back. Now I'm hoping I can get a pink or red one soon.

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  10. I am off shopping tomorrow, and am going to buy myself some new inserts for my Classic Personal. I am turning it into my "bookofax" to keep track of my reading and books wish lists. I will try not to spend too much...!

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  11. maranlov - Thanks for the advice. I will let you know what I think when it arrives.

    Jeff -I have been away from Filofax for a while as well, have been using PDAs since mid 90s. Still using a Blackberry which is great for email and address book and backup planner/diary. But I just love the freedom of Filofax and everyone has a Smart-phone now, so a Fax is a bit different, I like to be different :-)

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  12. @Steve: LOL No, I suppose I should have written "mother of 4 SMALL kids", since kids tend to be young anyways. They are now aged 9,7,6 and 4. And being 41 I would not refer to myself as a young mother anymore LOL I know for sure, because teenagers now address me with Missus .... ;-)

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  13. Gareth, I had gone to use bound planners: Moleskine and Quo Vadis. They are excellent products, but for what I do, I like the flexibility of the Filofax. My wife had always used very inexpensive planners from B&N, and they were fine, but she has gotten much busier now. I have a chocolate A5 Classic and she'd always thought mine was smart looking, and then when she read the Gala Darling article she decided she wanted to try a Filofax. I hope she'll find it useful.

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