Previously I’ve talked about the evils of the time change (Ma definitely agrees with me on this point!). Even though we got our hour back that was stolen from us in April and I should feel rested like I have in previous years, my internal time clock is all messed up and I’m exhausted all the time.
With it being dark out so early, it’s hard to do things after work, like tending our garden. I do like the light in the mornings, though, for as long as that lasts. It’s so hard for me to get up when it is still pitch black outside. Something seems inherently wrong with that!
This time of year there is a definite advantage to living this far south. Even at its darkest, it will never be completely dark when I leave work.
All of this was a ridiculously long rant lead up to a cute story. One day when I was a grad student in England, I had stayed at home all day. My classes were all on Mondays and Wednesdays, and I didn’t need the library, so I’d been at home studying. I’d read (a necessity with 500 assigned pages per week!) and researched papers all day.
Eventually, it got dark, and I decided to make dinner. I finished eating, cleaned up, and returned to studying. When I started to feel sleepy, I congratulated myself on a productive day and went up to bed. I was plugging in my laptop and changing into sleep clothes when I looked at the clock. It was 5:30. I was sure my clock had to be wrong. I rebooted my computer, but sure enough my electric clock was right.
Then I thought about it. My landlord/roommate wasn’t home yet. Sometimes he did go out after work, but even then he’d be home by eight.
I knew better than to go to bed that early (and be up for good at 2 am). I stayed in my pajamas, but I did get more work done. The whole while I kept laughing at myself for having eaten dinner at what had to have been 4:30.
Have shorter days ever fooled you as to what time it really was? or Who is with me in abolishing daylight saving time?
Grown Up, Now What? 