The Big Switch

DEBORAH CROMBIE: It's that time of year again--and I don't mean March Madness. We're already a day into the dreaded spring SPRING FORWARD . Who wants to lose an hour of sleep? Maybe it's not so bad for writers--most of us can let our body clocks adjust gradually over a few days (or weeks…) But for people who have to be at work on time, this first Monday on Daylight Savings Time is the pits. Every year there are record heart attacks and car accidents because people are tired and stressed.

 

If I were the boss of the world (a fine thing!) I would say LEAVE THE CLOCKS ALONE! But then the question is do you leave them on Standard Time or on DST? I would vote one hundred percent for Standard Time. I get that folks in more northern climes might like an extra hour of daylight in summer evenings, I really do. I've lived in Scotland, where mid-winter daylight maxes out at about five hours. But here in Texas that extra hour of summer daylight is HELL. DST is supposed to save electricity, apparently, but for us it means we use more as the hottest part of the day extends into home-from-work and dinner hour and our air-conditioners are working overtime. Want to grill? Or walk the dog? Or do anything outside that doesn't involve a pool? Wait until the sun goes down at 8:30!

Maybe we should split the US horizontally, where everyone above Kansas goes on DST, and everyone below stays on Standard Time. What do you think, REDS? And are you YAY or NAY on DST?

LUCY BURDETTE: No no I don’t want DST in either location! I vote for leaving it the way the world or God made it. I know this sounds silly, but the time switch ruins our sunset cocktails:). We like having a drink or glass of wine before dinner, and then moving on to dinner when the sun sets. Don’t tell me I have to wait to eat until 7:30--it’s not in my make-up. But if I was in Connecticut all winter with such an early end to the day, I might feel differently!

JENN McKINLAY: I live in AZ where we abstain from Daylight Savings Time. We don’t change the clocks because an extra hour of sun on a 115 degree summer day would be cruel and unusual punishment. I don’t really see the point of changing the clocks, but I live here so…

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: OMG. Just tell me what time it is. And leave it that way.  It’s  hard enough to figure out what time it is, even what day it is, every single day. The whole time zone thing, not to mention changing the times, makes my brain just fall to shattering pieces.

I will tell my favorite time change story. I was an anchor person in Atlanta, and one Saturday night on the news, the weather person said: “And remember,  Hank, tonight is the night the time changes.” 

I said in reply—on live TV—: “Well, Alan, the TIME doesn’t change. The time is an unalterable continuum . We just change what we call it.”

He said: “Huh?”

I said: “Alan, see, the time continues, and it’s not about us, it’s about the universe. The time stays the same.  We just change the clocks.” 

Next Monday, I got called into my boss’s office, and he yelled at me. “What were you talking about?”  he asked. I tried to explain (so dumb of me) but he interrupted – – “Don’t say stuff like that on TV,” he said. 

 

RHYS BOWEN:  having homes in Arizona and California is always complicated. Half the year different and half the same. In Arizona I’m always worrying whether it’s two hours or three to New York. Am I Zooming California at the right time?

But I love long light evenings. Sitting out on our balcony at nine or ten, watching lights come on in the valley is magical 

However like Hank I have a story. Book tour. We drove from Kentucky to Cincinnati. South to North . I showered. John went to run errands. Days before cell phones. I came out of the shower to hear the TV announcer say “ And that’s all from the six o’clock news “

You mean five I said. I called the front desk. Oh damn. We’d crossed a time zone! No way of contacting John happily pooling around in the car. I called a taxi, called the bookstore to apologize. Finally John showed up to be met at the gate by a madwoman yelling “Drive! Drive!”

The bookstore was nice enough to offer everyone coffee while they waited 

 

HALLIE EPHRON: There was a big article in our local paper urging legislators to pass a bill that would keep Massachusetts on daylight saving. Apparently the bill has been kicking around for years. Why couldn’t we split the difference and spring ahead a half hour and leave it there permanently? I’ll wait for Hank to explain why it can’t be done by halves on time’s unalterable continuum. 

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’m still laughing at Hank’s boss. “Don’t say stuff like that on TV.”

I wasn’t so fussed about the change Sunday morning as I have been in the past, because we haven’t resumed in-person church services, so I’m not in a sleepy panic about being late. Or is it early? It also helps a lot that I don’t have kids in school at home. Hauling teenagers out of bed is hard enough as it is, the fact that 6am was 5am two days ago doesn’t make the experience better. 

 

All I can say is the Maine Millennial has decided if she runs for national office, it’s going to be on the platform of 1) tax the rich and 2) abolish Daylight Savings Time. That’s it, her entire appeal. She figures she can get a majority of voters from all parties, since “springing forward” is so universally reviled.

 

DEBS: Julia, can I vote in Maine?? And Hank, you are a treasure!!

 

So how about it, dearest readers? Do you love that extra hour? Oh, but wait, we just LOST an hour...