The changing daylight hours thread

[cheeky_monkey]

20 hours ago, Mary C said:

There was an experiment in keeping BST all year round in the UK between 1968 and 197. I was a very small child at the time but I remember that there was a higher incidence of RTCs involving children during the morning school run. 

Back in the 1970s the vast majority of children walked to school..today the vast majority don't so that argument is probably null and void these days..here last year the people of Alberta voted to keep the clocks changing and voted against keeping BST all year round

[Mary C]

20 minutes ago, cheeky_monkey said:

Back in the 1970s the vast majority of children walked to school..today the vast majority don't so that argument is probably null and void these days..here last year the people of Alberta voted to keep the clocks changing and voted against keeping BST all year round

Yeah, it’s true that most children are driven to school these days so that particular reason for reverting back to GMT/UTC would not be as valid now as it was in the 70s. There is an argument being voiced at the moment to retain BST for economic and certain environmental reasons, ie. it would result in reduced energy consumption for light and heat, it would be beneficial to both domestic and business users in terms of cost. It’s a difficult one, the needs of people in Shetland at 60°N and those in Cornwall at 50°N are quite different. I’d prefer to keep GMT because, even with GMT, where I live the sun rises after 8am between the end of November and the end of January. I’m not a morning person so I need all the help I can get in terms of daylight to wake up.

[kold weather]

1 hour ago, cheeky_monkey said:

Back in the 1970s the vast majority of children walked to school..today the vast majority don't so that argument is probably null and void these days..

Not sure that holds as much water as you think, there is still a significant number who walk to school (something like 45-50% of all children do so looking at studies from the govt) so if that was an issue in the past, it would undoubtably still be an issue today I'd imagine. 

[cheeky_monkey]

16 minutes ago, kold weather said:

Not sure that holds as much water as you think, there is still a significant number who walk to school (something like 45-50% of all children do so looking at studies from the govt) so if that was an issue in the past, it would undoubtably still be an issue today I'd imagine. 

let me put it another way..the vast majority of kids walking to school back in the 1970s walked to school on their own and probably walked further to reach school

[noctrl]

3 hours ago, cheeky_monkey said:

let me put it another way..the vast majority of kids walking to school back in the 1970s walked to school on their own and probably walked further to reach school

primary school students yeah maybe but most secondary school students will probably walk on their own… that’s just what you think is happening

[cheeky_monkey]

1 minute ago, noctrl said:

primary school students yeah maybe but most secondary school students will probably walk on their own… that’s just what you think is happening

primary school children would walk to school on their own or with friends or siblings never with parents back when..i know at my kids primary school they were not allowed to walk to school without adult supervision until they were 10 (never sure how a school could dictate how your kids got to school?)..maybe just my own experience but even at Secondary school most kids still got dropped off by parents..my youngest didn't leave school until 2021

[Methuselah]

40 minutes ago, noctrl said:

primary school students yeah maybe but most secondary school students will probably walk on their own… that’s just what you think is happening

Aye, I walked to school in the dark, but I walked home in broad daylight. My youngest bro got run down on his way home from school in 1978, at about 4 p.m. 

[MattStoke]

Brighter for travelling to work in the mornings, and more peaceful with the dark evenings. So much better this week since the clocks went back.

[damianslaw]

Always feels a long slog through November, the tunnel to light just becomes darker and darker, but by late month thankfully christmas positivity takes the edge off things. I know not everyone enjoys the long build in to christmas, but if anything I see christmas as a festival of new light, and the end of the descent to darkness and should be celebrated for this reason alone, without it December would be abysmal. 

Edited November 2, 2023 by damianslaw

[Wynn D Woo]

On 31/10/2023 at 12:17, MattStoke said:

Brighter for travelling to work in the mornings, and more peaceful with the dark evenings. So much better this week since the clocks went back.

Way worse travelling back after work this week in the dark, and noticably more crashes on the roads, has meant either sitting in traffic jams or trying to find back routes down narrow country lanes to get past it all. All so much worse since the clocks went back.

 

[Maz]

1st of the “dark” weeks ticked off.  Actually was really fortunate with sunny periods coinciding with lunchtime all but Tuesday since the clocks changed.  Made the most of it with a lunchtime walk and then eating outside.

Darkness descending from 4pm onwards and long dark evenings make me feel claustrophobic, trapped and actually physically scared when the light starts dropping in the afternoon.  I’ve got enough light during the days though, so SAD hasn’t taken a full grip yet.

Reached 8th February in my mind game of “twins”…the first signs of spring will be so much more welcomed thanks to the contrast of the winter months.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Maz

[cheeky_monkey]

Clocks haven't  gone back yet here..so its depressingly dark in the mornings with sun rise close to 9am..

[Maz]

9 minutes ago, cheeky_monkey said:

Clocks haven't  gone back yet here..so its depressingly dark in the mornings with sun rise close to 9am..

True, the first couple of weeks of November do give the bonus of a glimpse of pre-breakfast light to lift the spirit.  9am sunrise is pretty grim.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Maz

[TheOgre]

Early November is the first time it feels depressing imo. Because Halloween festivities are gone, the early sunsets have no appeal and it’s just a long wait until Christmas lifts you up. 

On 02/11/2023 at 23:22, damianslaw said:

I see christmas as a festival of new light, and the end of the descent to darkness and should be celebrated for this reason alone, without it December would be abysmal. 

Completely agree with this and I imagine that’s what June in places like Tierra Del Fuego, Falklands, and South New Zealand feels like.

[damianslaw]

1 hour ago, TheOgre said:

Early November is the first time it feels depressing imo. Because Halloween festivities are gone, the early sunsets have no appeal and it’s just a long wait until Christmas lifts you up. 

Completely agree with this and I imagine that’s what June in places like Tierra Del Fuego, Falklands, and South New Zealand feels like.

Yes next couple of weeks are a bit of a low point.

[damianslaw]

Today first time its felt like one of those 'dark days before christmas', where it never really gets light. A month too early!

Its going dark now, and the birds are tweeting in the dusky hour.

A sign of things to come.

 

[Maz]

Week 2 of GMT.  4 days with no sun and lots of rain and heavy cloud cover really started pulling me down.  
 

Then yesterday and today both sunny, pleasant out of the light breeze.  Sat outside both days in the sun, which is 100x better than any SAD lamp.  
 

Today’s solar “pair” is 31st January….only 10 weeks away!

[ManiaMuse]

On 11/11/2023 at 15:21, Maz said:

Week 2 of GMT.  4 days with no sun and lots of rain and heavy cloud cover really started pulling me down.  
 

Then yesterday and today both sunny, pleasant out of the light breeze.  Sat outside both days in the sun, which is 100x better than any SAD lamp.  
 

Today’s solar “pair” is 31st January….only 10 weeks away!

We keep plowing through the days until things start to get better. The first date I look to is around 13 December when the sunsets stop getting later. Only 4 weeks away, we will be there soon enough.

[damianslaw]

Just now, ManiaMuse said:

We keep plowing through the days until things start to get better. The first date I look to is around 13 December when the sunsets stop getting later. Only 4 weeks away, we will be there soon enough.

Yes its a struggle at present, but we are nearly bottoming out light level loss wise.. on wet cloudy afternoons it starts to go dark by 4pm. 

[cheeky_monkey]

2 hours ago, ManiaMuse said:

We keep plowing through the days until things start to get better. The first date I look to is around 13 December when the sunsets stop getting later. Only 4 weeks away, we will be there soon enough.

im a morning person so for me its sunrise i look for not sunset..sunrise doesnt turn the corner here until Jan3rd 

[Maz]

On 14/11/2023 at 14:44, cheeky_monkey said:

im a morning person so for me its sunrise i look for not sunset..sunrise doesnt turn the corner here until Jan3rd 

Sunset reaching latest time (15th Dec), Shortest day (21st) and earliest sunrise (30th here I think) are all nice little milestones to cling to.  Noticing a little light creeping in pre 7am and post 5pm are more tangible though and have to wait until late January.  Speed of change picks up from then on…..

[Dangerous55019]

On 16/10/2023 at 20:28, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

I seem to be one of the very few people on here who loves the dark evenings. 

 

On 18/10/2023 at 03:34, Cheshire Freeze said:

I like them too.

Never understood why people moan so much. Get more than their fair share of light in summer when it's light til 11 and sunny by 4am in the morning. Never even gets properly dark for a few weeks around the solstice.

Don’t worry folks, you’re certainly not alone in liking the darker evenings.

[Dangerous55019]

Evening everyone.

Well I’m currently on my break in work, and I’ve just been outside to watch the sunset.  

I can now confirm that due to the topography of the land, that for my neck of the woods, I am once again in the land of pre-15:30 sunsets.

I know that in less than a months time the evenings will be getting lighter again as we start knocking on the door of the winter solstice, and the long hard road back towards the summer solstice… But for now, I’m more than happy… The vice has now totally slackened off.

[CharlieBear9]

4 hours ago, Dangerous55019 said:

Evening everyone.

Well I’m currently on my break in work, and I’ve just been outside to watch the sunset.  

I can now confirm that due to the topography of the land, that for my neck of the woods, I am once again in the land of pre-15:30 sunsets.

I know that in less than a months time the evenings will be getting lighter again as we start knocking on the door of the winter solstice, and the long hard road back towards the summer solstice… But for now, I’m more than happy… The vice has now totally slackened off.

There's a delightful serenity to the days, especially the afternoons, at the moment, a complete antithesis to the heated, frenzied, endless glare of the ones in June & July.

It's a shame that autumn is now such a relatively short season, as summer temperatures, having annexed September, continue to encroach into October as well.

[SollyOlly]

2 minutes ago, CharlieBear9 said:

There's a delightful serenity to the days, especially the afternoons, at the moment, a complete antithesis to the heated, frenzied, endless glare of the ones in June & July.

It's a shame that autumn is now such a relatively short season, as summer temperatures, having annexed September, continue to encroach into October as well.

Completely agree with you. Temperatures are nowadays no guide to the seasons (with the warming, especially of N Europe) and with reverse SAD I love the dark nights, especially when cold. I'm in a minority I know, but each to their own eh! I like the light of, say, October and May, but the summer months are just too much for me..."glare" is the right word.

Anyway. We all get a bit of what we like, at least!