Period clock change

[FamilyWiggs]

It'll be lovely to have an extra hour in bed tonight, and to wake up and find that the symmetry of the world has been restored - the PPUK clock is back in synch with real life. I hate that 6 months when they don't match and everyone's posts seem an hour earlier than they really are...

To put this slightly on-theme - how did they manage in the "olden days" which changing daylight hours - was there an equivalent on BST or did they do like the Romans and adjust the length of the working day to fit the amount of daylight?

 

[citizensmith]

They didn't, and it was a different time all over the country heading west. I hate this particular clock change - roll on shortest day when days can start drawing out again!

 

[Feltwell]

No idea, but I hate the change back to GMT. It's depressing to always leave work in the dark.

An extra hour in bed would be lovely, but with young kids I have no chance!

I suspect in ye olden days, pre-Industrial Revoultion, your working day revolved much more around daylight than around a clock - or sun-dial.

According to that less-than-infallible source, answers.com, the clock was invented:-

The clock is one of the oldest human inventions to enable us to judge how long a process has run. As the seasons and the phases of the moon can be used to measure the passage of longer periods of time, shorter processes had to be used to measure off hours and minutes. The word 'clock' comes from the French word "cloche" meaning bell. The Latin for bell is glocio, the Saxon is clugga and the German is glocke. The first mechanical alarm clock was invented by Levi Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire, in 1787. However, historical records reveal that approximately 5000 to 6000 years ago great civilizations in the Middle East and North Africa began to make clocks to enhance their calendars. These cultures found that they needed to organize their time more efficiently. Originally candles and sticks of incense that burn down at approximate predictable speeds were used as to estimate the passage of time. Other methods were sundials and hourglasses. The development of electronics in the twentieth century led to clocks with no clockwork parts at all. Time in these cases is measured in several ways, such as by the vibration of a tuning fork or the behaviour of quartz crystals. Now mechanical clocks have since come to be largely powered by batteries, removing the need for winding.

 

[biffvernon]

Before railways, every town had it's own time, the right time, with 12 noon set when the sun was at it's highest. I'm all for using such a natural system again.

 

[citizensmith]

I've just looked up that before GMT in 1852 Hereford was 11 Minutes behind London and that explains why I am always late for appointments :shock: It also implys that most of you other folk on this forum who are to East of london are literally ahead of your time .I am now so confused i need a lie down.

 

[JoceAndChris]

It'll be lovely to have an extra hour in bed tonight, and to wake up and find that the symmetry of the world has been restored - the PPUK clock is back in synch with real life. I hate that 6 months when they don't match and everyone's posts seem an hour earlier than they really are...

I'm so glad you said that as I've thought I must be going mad for 6 months!

 

[Flyfisher]

Before railways, every town had it's own time, the right time, with 12 noon set when the sun was at it's highest. I'm all for using such a natural system again.

So am I, in principle, but in practice it wouldn't work because society has changed so much. Anyway, even 'noon GMT' varies a fair bit from actual noon. According to wikipedia it can vary by up to 16 minutes because of variations in the Earth's rotation and tilt, hence Greenwich Mean Time, i.e. the average time for noon.

There's also an amusing story on wiki about how the meridian line in the courtyard at Greenwich Observatory is no longer the actual prime meridian of the world due to a surveying error during the development of GPS. It is within a few metres though, apparently, so don't panic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Mean_Time

Still, at least GMT/BST has given rise to that now well-established tradition of having a good old moan twice a year, even if it does cost us millions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11651190

 

[LadyArowana]

One of the most confusing things is to travel from somewhere like Japan in E.Asia across the dateline ( Hawaii is just over the divide ), you arrive about the same time you left and then it takes 2 days to get home.

 

[Moo]

What I've never understood is the Scottish farmers' complaint that not changing the clocks would mean that they'd be getting up to milk the coos in the dark. Surely as far as the cows are concerned it makes no difference what the official time is (unless they've developed the ability to read a clock-face).

 

[JoceAndChris]

I think the cows would be impossible to milk if it was dark. Certainly my chickens refuse to wake up when it's dark.

 

[Moo]

But why milk them when it's dark? Why not wait until it's light enough?
I'm sure the cows wouldn't mind.

 

[Tom]

According to this poll http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/poll/17-08-2010/should-we-stop-the-clocks-going-back , even the majority of people in Scotland who voted either don't want to change the clocks or don't care. And, check out the non-Scottish votes!!

 

[Penners]

I think the cows would be impossible to milk if it was dark. Certainly my chickens refuse to wake up when it's dark.

I agree - milking chickens in the dark would be impossible, too.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Just checking the time....

Yay - it works. Order has been restored to my world.

 

[biffvernon]

Anyway, even 'noon GMT' varies a fair bit from actual noon. According to wikipedia it can vary by up to 16 minutes because of variations in the Earth's rotation and tilt, hence Greenwich Mean Time, i.e. the average time for noon.

There's also an amusing story on wiki about how the meridian line in the courtyard at Greenwich Observatory is no longer the actual prime meridian of the world due to a surveying error during the development of GPS. It is within a few metres though, apparently, so don't panic.

Nah, the actual meridian is in Louth, a brass strip set into the pavement just outside the butcher's shop, which is called Meridian Meats.

For those wishing to build a sundial, an understanding of the Equation of Time comes in handy.

 

[JohnB]

http://www.thegoonshow.net/downloads/other/what_time_is_it_eccles.mp3
:lol:

 

[JohnB]

For those wishing to build a sundial, an understanding of the Equation of Time comes in handy.

How do you tell the time at night, and get woken up in the morning?

 

[CatherineB]

My digital clock radio, on which the alarm/radio only goes off Mon-Fri, doesn't reset its time until the radio is turned on. So, if I don't turn the radio on at all on the Sunday that the clocks change, what time will my alarm/radio go off on Monday? I wish I'd left it off today, to see if it woke me an hour early tomorrow - except that I don't want to be woken an hour early!

And, BTW, PPUK still seems to be out of time, as I'm writing this at 3.28 pm, but what time will the site say I posted?

Yours, with brain-ache...

 

[biffvernon]

How do you tell the time at night, and get woken up in the morning?

Why would you want to? Either.

 

[biffvernon]

http://www.thegoonshow.net/downloads/other/what_time_is_it_eccles.mp3
:lol:

Period radio. They don't make 'em like that any more.