TIME, Gentlemen, Please

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The BEST bit of news that I can give you, lasting for the next five months:

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As an aid to explaining it. the dailies here in Cadiz are showing that tomorrow,                            Trafalgar Day,                                                                                                                                                                is also the last day with 11 Hours of Sun between sunrise and sunset - and that occurs just before you put your watch back an hour next weekend !! The good news is, that while sunrise this week is at 06:30 - showing as 08:30 on the clocks - for following weeks that will be much later than 06:40 - but showing as much later than 07:40 - up to as late as 08:30 in January, so that getting up with the sunrise will not be such a problem as in summer (in the UK the Stonehenge observers must watch at 02:15 realtime for the sunrise - whereas here that is about 04:15 realtime - and that difference has nothing to do with clock settings - just a fact about the locations of sunclocks North/South and the shortness of the night in the World! )

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Incidentally, it is possible to select from a collection of sundials in Andalucia - and in the coming month they are set up at 1 o`clock on Spanish clocks - to show 12 o`clock !  Just make sure it is attached firmly to the ground!

In the UK, Ireland, Portugal and The Canaries, in theory, you change your watch at 2 o`clock BST (GMT+1) in the morning - back to 1 o`clock GMT. Such an instruction is compatible with the International (British based) Time Zone Standard - since any such instruction involving "midnight" could be very ambiguous concerning which date is involved. Only late nightwork is really involved. But, since everyone in Europe (in theory) does that in unison, all at the same time, then in Spain, France and The Low Countries you must change the watch at 3 o`clock GMT+2 in the morning - back to 2 o`clock GMT+1 - which exactly is no different to that 1 o`clock GMT in the UK - and the oddity is demonstrated visually on Spanish TV and newspaper announcements !! - yet another crack in the appearance of normality in the clockwork !

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The most dramatic effect happens that Monday morning for commuters - especially this year !

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4 extra days of morning brightness are available on this occasion - because sunrise is an hour earlier - and also this year on an earlier date in October ! ( The same effect could be repeated for mid-Winter if clocks were allowed to be put back for yet another hour - so that the following mornings could be better than even in Portugal - which uses the British time scheme and doesn`t have the dark mornings !).

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Note that to the South, such as in Morocco proper, there is no change required from GMT throughout the year ! So, if in Tangiers, Africa, etc., that weekend, you could miss the clock change. The USA and Canada have already finished Daylight Saving Time.

 www.weather.com[/url] does also supply such climatological information for many more days - with a button for  the next 12 days in some areas !

I have to emphasise that some Weather Pages on the internet from the USA, in spite of protests from myself, can continue to display the wrong time of day for some European countries !  "www.weather.com" is generally good
[/QUOTE]
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[B]Clearer info about [url]www.weather.com[/url ] :[/B]
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Look for "World" along the top button row.
Box appears, enter "Malaga" or whatever.
Selection of places Malaga appears - select appropriate one
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NEXT ROW OF BUTTONS nearTHE END HAS "10 Day"
Simple array for those days appears - - BUT, NOT showing clear sunrise/set times for that location.

Near top left is a box with "TODAY" showing - select a date later in the month!
Much data appears for that day  AGAIN, go to the bottom of that page and select "DETAILS" box for more details INCLUDING the sunrise and sunset times !
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It just needs that bit of a search !

The principle is to select "10 days" and select in "Today box" and then select "Details at the bottom left.

.cheers.

.........              ..C A D I Z.6ºWest(36,5ºN)..      .FRANKFURT/Oder 15ºEast50ºN´

´ ´ ´ ´ ´ October 25 ( S U M M E R Clocks )

..........................C L O C K..   ..REALTIME.............C L O C K....   .REALTIME

Sunrise (Orto)....08h41.CEST...06:30.Solar..........07h45.CEST....06:45.Solar

TRUE.NOON.......14h10...    .....12:00.........    .......12h45......    ...11:45

Sunset(Ocaso)...19h38...  ......17:30..........    ......17h45.....    ....16:45

M´night......     ....02h10....  .....00:00........    ........00h45..... .   ...23:45

Worktime.....  ....08h00...  ......05:50........    ........08h00....    .....07:15

 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ October 25 ( W I N T E R Clocks )

.................        .C L O C K....  .REALTIME...........C L O C K..  ..REALTIME

Sunrise (Orto)....07h41.CET...06:30.Solar..........06h45.CET... .06:45.Solar

TRUE.NOON.......13h10......  ..12:00...   .............11h45.....     ...11:45

Sunset (Ocaso). 18h38.........17:30...   .............16h45.     .......16:45

M´night........     ..01h10.........00:00.........   .......23h45...     .....23:45

Worktime......  ...08h00.........06:50.......   .........08h00....     ....08:00

.........             ..C A D I Z.6ºWest(36,5ºN)..  .FRANKFURT/Oder 15ºEast50ºN´

This is my recent mailing to the BBC concerning multiple censorship on sunrise etc. times !

Perhaps unexpectedly, CLR recently queried as to who the "Authorities" were who cause you to shift the time on your watch ?

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It is more complicated than you would expect !

Obviously the politicians in the government of the country concerned appeared to have decided that for you - sometimes about 100 years ago (as in Spain and France). They did so without much idea of how that would affect life in 2000 +.  Indeed, in Spain, they did not realise the eventual effects in 1912 and 1918 - which in no way conformed with their ideas - except to make the Spanish people go to work and school at a ridiculously early time in the mornings (in realtime sundial time).

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BUT, there are even higher "Authorities" concerned in this. There is another "Geneva Convention" in force since an international agreement made 100 years ago. Reflecting on the decision made then in the agreement, it is rather strange that the World´s governments did not have Paris, France as the centre for the Time Standard for everyone -as Paris was for every other standard imaginable!

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Instead, the World chose Greenwich Observatory near London as the Time Standard location in the World - devising the set of 24 "TIME ZONES" around the World at every 15 degrees E/W of logitude measured from Greenwich. (The instruction of the agreement was in a sense advisory, the government concerned with your location had to "ratify" the agreement - but the politicians had the power to change the accepted advice ! ).

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France was thoroughly upset aboutr the agreement, but had no option but to comply in some kind of way (otherwise to be out of step with the World by about 7 minutes difference from the basic time.  - Instead, France chose to use the time allocated to "Berlin - Rome" so putting clocks fast by more than one hour with respect to the sundial in France - especially in the West of France !

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It was unfortunate for life in the 21st Century that Spain followed that path in around 1912 so that in San Fernando, Cadiz, the clocks were made about ONE and a HALF hours faster than the Sun from that time forwards - since the people were forced to obey that time - effectively one hour earlier than before - to go to work !

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Strangely, that was the only compliance in general with the demand of the politicians - for the rest of the 24 hours virtually everyone - including the officials, did just as they liked - obeying the sundial instead nof the clockwork. ( Naturally, they soon learned the new timing from the children and had all remaining activities about one hour later than before ).

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However, not learning from the experience, the politicians then added a further hour faster from the Summer onwards to double the difference acieved before (that is, in 1918 after the 1912 fiasco . Of course, since the Summer Sun is so powerful here, the people again ignoed the clockwork - except for now going to work and school at two hours earlier in the morning than before 1912 !

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That has contnued for the 100 years - although Franco actually stopped the Summer frolics after 1949 - only to have the government reverse to ndouble summertime (double daylight saving time) in 1974 !

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Thye Geneva "Convention" does force you to comply with the agreement if you happen to cross the Pacific Ocean ! That "Authority" has the Captain telling you that you have no alternative but to change the date of the current day there! You "gain a day" or "lose a day" depending on the E/W direction of your travel .

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In Europe there are at least two other "Authorities" conspiring to keep to the current time conditions in France and Spain - they are The European Union and the NATO military. Both would prefer all the countries in the Union to show the same time on their clocks - but that is out of the question, because life would be even starger than it is in Spain for the other countries !

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CLR says that the life in the Shetland Islands (Far further North than Scotland) would appear to have no tim eauthorities.

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That is right in many respects trhere. Only for a very few days around the First of Spring and the First of Autumn is there any kind of daily rhythm to see with the Sun. The rest of the year CLR could time life more or less at random - with the exception of possible work time and shopping time. The ruling time would be that of events on satellite television !  Thus CLR has some strange outlook on time shown on clocks!

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Cadiz, September 5, 2009.

Letter to the Editor,

Apartado 102,

29439 BENALMÁDENA PUEBLO,

editorial@csnews.es

11005 Cádiz, pcia. Cadiz,

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17 / IV / 2009 (Printed on page 11)  (Better connections through www.costadelsolnews.es  )

As a senior with many years interest in the Earth Sciences, I welcome the opportunity to include two items concerned currently with Spain which may not have come to the attention of the Costa del Sol.

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The two items are closely connected, - one of which is stated to be a Campaign by the "Comision Nacional Independiente - ARHOE" to take place in various cities of Spain this Spring. www.horariosenespana.es on pages around 6 -7 of its home section makes that statement in Spanish.

Curiously, the reasons for both items are closely confirmed on page 2 of the newspaper in "The Weather".

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A)  The Campaign is unusual in Spain for countering the special, strange time on the clocks!

The Commission proclaims that workers and schoolchildren are unnecessarily harassed by the extraordinarily early starting time in the realtime day, as portrayed by your sun times shown on the right of the weather feature.

On the 2nd April, you showed the times to be 08:02 am and 8:41 pm - probably around San Pedro?. As "confirmation" the equivalent times in the "Diarios de Cadiz, Jerez and Seville" were 08:08 am and 8:47 pm (probably from Seville). Such times increase with the locations to the west, and vary to longer duration of the day in northern parts.

The Commission is admitting that the times here about 8 o´clock in the morning are misleading, - and both for the Winter and Summer!

It is easy to see from the middle time of the day you portray, that "High Noon" or "Culmination Time" (which is best stated in European terms as being the "true midday time") was actually at 14:22 or 2:22 pm on the clocks in Malaga. Similarly, you can easily see that true midnight was at 02:22 am !

(The most significant statement that I can make, is that in the majority of countries the endeavour is to make true midday / midnight around 1 o´clock in Summer - although in countries to the South they are around 12 o´clock - without summertime added to the clocks!).

The clocks in Spain run from 2 to more than 2 1/2 hours fast in summertime - and 1 to more than 1 1/2 hours fast in wintertime. Roughly, that has been true for about 100 years - and the "double summertime" or "double daylight saving time" began in 1918, - not in 1974, when it was recommenced after Franco stopped it after 1949 ! (? Why ?).

It should be plain that the clocks are running fast throughout the 24 hour day, so that sunrise is definitely NOT at a realistic time of 8 o´clock (or 7 o´clock in high summer), but is 2 1/2 hours EARLIER, at a time when banks are now opening up in Cadiz !

That is why the Commission has a basis for complaint, and it would seem that the outcome would be a starting time around that habitually found for the shops. Shops and major Markets have always ignored the clocktime established around 1912 to 1918, because they adhered to the sunclock time!

A serious point for consideration is that the Commission would proclaim the abolition of the Siesta break period in Spain in order to accommodate the required worktime !

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B)  The strange time on the clocks strongly affects the lives of all residents and visitors in Spain: It is most apparent to anyone present when visitors get to mealtime. The Spanish people (and officials) have always ignored the clocktime since 1912 - 1918 when it comes to the time for a meal ! Visitors are not told about the clocks, and to reserve their places for the meal, they sit it out until a hot meal is eventually available - up to 2 hours later than "normal",

However, that is NOT the point of interest !

The fast clocks, as depicted on your weather page, mean that "High Noon" is the time to take most care with precautions against the Sun ! From the USA, the UK and probably many capitals, the newspapers proclaim that "High Noon" is at 1 o´clock and care should be taken from 11 am to 3 pm. That is utterly wrong for Spain, the Canary Islands and France ! In reverse, it is also wrong for most tropically inclined countries, where 10 am to 2 pm is correct.

Because Spain is a country of wide expanse, then the safe time must be quoted as 12 noon to 5 pm (not as misunderstood by dermatologists, who believe that the Earth and Sun respect the Law of Spain, which appears to proclaim a High Noon time of 2 o´clock only).

Just either planting a stick upright in the sand, or observing the hourly positions of the shadow of a flagpole or lamp post, you can verify when the Sun is almost directly overhead on the beaches, etc., of our southerly latitudes. I urge everyone to develop the habit of sheltering (for lunch, etc.) around 2 pm - and not around 1 pm ! - after all that is noon time in realtime !

William Plumtree, M.Phil,(Lond) (74 yrs)

11005 CADIZ

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POST SCRIPT:

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 It seems to be unclear (via "livit") that the Commission is also targeting the  9  to  5  office schedule - which starts far too early in the morning - so a likely offer is for 10 am to 6:30 pm - with a concession for alunchbreak of about 1 1/2 hours !

Blog in attempted Spanish as "plumtree" in www.horariosenespana.es/foro

Great excitement ahead: Comision Nacional   is campaigning this Spring in cities!

Monday 29 / XII / 2008, The Diarios of Cadiz, Jerez, Sevilla, etc. have another discussion of the effects for the crew of the International Space Station as it travels some 16 times around the World during the celebration of the New Year - which astronomy officials would say starts at 00:00 hours UTC - although some 11 hours earlier for the folks in New Zealand!  (Page 41 in the Sociedad Section in Cadiz).

For once, the article, originating from a correspondent in Moscow, on the subject of the times encountered around the World by the crew of the ISS, has no real fault in the times quoted.  I have just a slight quibble that the first time would be better quoted as over the Pacific Islands at 12:30 UTC on the 31st December, 2008 - rather than earlier near Ecuador - so that the last celebratory occasion would then follow as around 11:30 UTC on the 1st January, 2009 in the same vicinity.

What is surprising is the omission of the planned stopping of the World´s clocks by one second at the official time of the New Year - which is appearing to be an almost annual event now. Even on the ISS their atomic clock will have to have the extra second inserted.  Incidentally, if the extra seconds are abandoned, as some important astronomers are campaigning, the situation in the World in aeons of years later will be almost exactly the same as the current situation of the time on the clocks in SPAIN and FRANCE - particularly in Spain because there is no mention these days how TWO HOURS came to be put fast on the clocks a century ago - completely covered up by officialdom here. In those far-of years ahead they too will have forgotten that the astronomers in the 21st Century abandoned vital seconds on the clocks which help to match the "true Solar Time".

W E G  P

Interesting major Section in Spanish History Journal (Year 10, No.122) "La Aventura de la Historia" - which is out on the shelf now. The very top of the cover says 1808 - 1814 NAPOLEON Bombardea Madrid  -  which somewhat extends the period of shelling?

Pages 74 to 80 cover the period just to January 1809 - together with a chronology through to the end of January 1809. This suggests a continuation in the coming issues on a bicentenary basis.

Revised 05 / XII / 2008

 Hi Everyone, from Cadiz,

REVISED  December  5,  2008

NEW Detail about  "The Oracle News" (" Cadiz, Seville and Eastern Algarve")

(The newspaper has apparently been around for some time, but now is under new management)

The new managers have introduced some news onto the website - but there is no longer a forum. The circulation area is as yet not certain - not seen in Cadiz City!

I just want to bring your attention to an article in “The Oracle” English language newspaper, specifically for Costa de la Luz, said to be particularly for Cadiz & Seville, Issue 3, 6 May 2008.

Page 11 has an article on “Andalucian Kids amongst Fattest” - and that could mean your young kids as well, folks!

I have been campaigning in the Cadiz area for about a year (mostly telling the authorities about the strange effects of the clocktime in Spain on various, serious aspects of life here – including the REAL reason for pre-school children getting very overweight – not to say their parents – but no offence is intended there, because this forum is hardly television!).

I have quoted a translation of the article in the old TheOracleNews in "pseudo-Spanish" from a computer into the available blog "FORO" selected at the foot of the last page (4) of the website for the very recent Congress on Normalising the Leisure and Work Hours in SPAIN : www.horariosenespana.es  - plus a listing of phrases in English which deplore the Time situation on the clocks (in a blog entitled "Extranjeros . . . ").

 The quoted Professor Berthold Koletzko is understandably led up the garden path by the shyness of the authorities who never explain that the clocks in Spain have never told the time in “realtime” for about a hundred years – neither in Winter, nor in Summer!

Firstly, articles appeared in the Cadiz newspapers claiming that Cadiz Province and City children are the fattest in the land in terms of numbers and degrees of overweight! They could not seem to find a real answer to the problem – a dietician expert even thought that a “nutritional deficiency” might be the factor to increase weight!                                                                                            Strangely, this article, which almost implied something wrong in the upbringing by parents particularly in Cadiz, produced no letters from readers (??).

Secondly, I did take a copy of the article on a Friday directly into the newspaper office with a brief, polite comment to explain the reason for the rotundities – but nothing appeared in the paper over the weekend (including a Sunday edition), nor on the Monday! That made me see red, so I penned the following to the newspaper.

                  THE PHÄRAOH`S NOT FOR SKIMPING !

                       There wás a thin Pháraoh, AKH-NÄTON

                       Whose pólicy t´wás - to put fát on.

                      He´d push lúnch to th´fóre,

                      Eat more dóughnuts at fóur -

                      T´consíderable gáins for Akh-náton (?)

(As expected, not a word further in the papers – except for an article somewhat later which seemed to suggest that compulsive eating was the reason!)

 The basic problem in Spain, influencing a number of factors to complain about, is that the clocks in Summer always show a time throughout the 24-hour day which is effectively faster than two hours ahead of the Sun!

The situation is that B, C and I (Business, Commerce and Industry) in Spain are just not aware of the true status of the time which has been on their clocks for 90 years (as far as Summer is concerned) and more for winter (around 100 yrs).

The fact of most concern here is that true midday on the East Coast of Spain (on the “Greenwich Meridian”) is legally set at 2:00 pm during Summer (1:00 pm in Winter) – and since the Sun takes another ½ an hour to “reach the Portuguese border” in the West, it means 2:30 pm in the Westof Spain! The Spanish population took the virtually unprecedented step in 1918 (probably by apathy) of having lunch and Siesta moved to those later times on the new clockwork – when, previously over the millennia, that used to be at 12:00 o´clock!

BUT, what are B, C and I having their employees (and their pre-school children) do? – Why not have lunch at about 12:30 on the clocks, matching business times in BERLIN?                                                                                                   

You can subtract 2 to 2 and ½ hours (east to west) from that time to see what the time is in realtime for lunch!

So, why are the parents and their pre-school children so hungry at about 5:00 pm on the clock? Pretty clear it is the longer wait than that for schoolchildren!

So, watch those doughnuts at teatime!

Cheers.

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REVISED 05 /  X I I  / 2008´

After I received a favourable, friendly response from the President of the National Commission involved with "Rationalising" the Work Hours for the near future in Spain - to the letter reproduced below, which you might have seen earlier this month - a National Congress in Tarragona has taken place on the 18th and 19th November.

Naturally, the aim of the Congress is to make working hours as much "in line" with the nearby European Union countries as possible.

To do that, there is the need to abolish the Siesta once and for all. Also, employees are to be expected to have a lunch "Hour" around, say, 12:30 on the good old Spanish Clock System (which apparently shows the same time as Berlin and Rome at all times of the year).

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You can, if able to, read all about it on www.horariosenespana.es  - but the only part in English is one of my contributions (as Plumtree) to the "Foro" (Forum) at the bottom right of the first web pages - currently at page 4,  - the title is in Spanish concerning "Extranjeros" or foreigners views of the Spanish Clocks.

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I am objecting most strongly (in pseudo-Spanish) to the abolition of the Siesta because it will mean that Dr. Enrique Herrera´s fears ^ ^, published by SiE of Malaga, concerning the proliferation of Skin Cancer and Melanomas will become insignificant and piffling in contrast to what will happen to the workers made to work outside in the Sun!  Undoubtedly, those results will ruin the reputation for Spain as a place to go sunbathing!  

^ ^  See letter below.

Additionally, as I have previously explained, employees and preschool children "suffer" much pangs of hunger by the afternoon "High Tea" (merienda) time - because they are made to have lunch 2 hours earlier than schoolchildren and adults who start lunch at the "traditional" time of 2 to 2:30 pm on the Spanish Clockwork. Obesity is being encouraged by the apparent lack of knowledge of the authorities concerning the meaning of 12:00 o´clock on the clockwork, both in day and night - which has been meaningless in Spain for the last 100 years (In Summer 12:30 lunch is at a realtime of 10:30am on the East Coast of Spain - by Law!).

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(PREVIOUS) Letter to Don Ignacio Buqueras y Bach, Presidente de la Comisión Nacional para la Racionalización de los Horarios Españoles;  29 / X / 2008  - The National Independent Commission for Normalising Work Time - plus the Independent Foundation in Madrid.

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Esteemed Sr. Buqueras,

It was most welcome to watch your participation this morning, 29 October, 2008, on the Telecinco channel discussion on the topic of the rationalisation of current Spanish Working Schedules.

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I have corresponded with the "Comision Nacional" several times, mainly in 2006, dealing principally with my observations on the necessity for “rationalisation” of “Time Factors” in one way or another – which I believe is a fundamental necessity in Spain (and probably in France too, where Western France has just the same time conditions as Spain – although day length is slightly less in Winter there and slightly more in Summer!).

My observations lead me to believe that a number of factors are involved with the influence of the real time of day on both the leisure activities and the working schedules of two major sectors of life here, that is for both residents and holiday visitors in Spain.

I was particularly pleased to see that you are very active on demonstrating that the situations portrayed in the rtve News program on rtve 1 on Sunday evening, 26^th October, are not as appropriate to the Quality of Life in Spain as that transmission appeared to convey! The current situation requires some adjustment – and I believe, quite urgently.

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I have found a severe problem right at the foundation of the manner in which the time of day has been regulated throughout the East-West extent of Spain since, in the greatest degree, 1918.                                                        (Prior to that, around 1911, when France refused to adopt Greenwich Mean Time as the Time Standard as adopted by a World International Conference, the French Government adopted GMT +1 as its basis for the year – it became desirable for Spain to adopt the same standard as France – primarily then for the safety requirements of the then primary form of travel – the international railway connections).

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I have iterated a number of times, since corresponding with the Comision Nacional, to the authorities and to the Director of the Royal Institute and the Marines Observatory, San Fernando, that the response of the Spanish Public to both extra impositions of one hour later over the realtime day, one in around 1912 – and the next, extra imposition in Summer, exactly in April 1918, caused major repercussions on the daily life cycles of the public -  which differed appreciably between "Market. Shops and Trading" as one area and the minor area then of "Commerce, Business and Industry" – the like of which appears to be not appreciated in the 21^st Century by experts on the subject!

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Essentially, as I tried to convey in my submission to the Comision Nacional in January, 2006, the first addition of one hour around 1912 to the real daily cycle for each year of the Sun was as much disregarded on the clockwork by the public - as was the second addition to that already imposed daily cycle during the Summers of 1918 and those years following - almost continuously for about 16 years.

The final imposition of the “double summertime” resulting from the French plan took place in 1949, according to the published records on the official website of the Royal Institute and Marines Observatory. It was double summertime because the basic time on the clockwork in Spain since 1912 was one of a single summertime addition of one hour to the real time daily cycle -at all times, irrespective of an addition or otherwise of the Summer additional hour !

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There are a number of major, harmful factors which are incurred especially in the Summer and early Autumn, which are seriously increasing in effect in these times of (hopefully) development - certainly the effects have become almost disastrous since the resumption of the extra summertime addition of one hour to the basic daily (summertime) cycle in 1974 ! (I believe that the News program of Sunday, 26^th October seriously overplayed the 1974 circumstance, to convey satisfaction by the public to an imposition which they could not visualise properly in terms of its effects on their Quality of Life).

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One major factor incurred, which I know from your personal appearance on TV 1 News around I believe December 22, 2005, and also from a similar report the following week by another member of the Comision, was well recognised by the Comision, and can be summarised as simply that the time of sunrise over the whole of Spain in the period just mentioned, is artificially very late in the morning on the clockwork (corresponding to an artificially very late, true midnight time on the clockwork) – so that schoolchildren (your emphasis) and workers (following week) – and, I maintain, early morning commuters on the highways, are prone to somnolescence !

The work starting time is absurdly early in the realtime day in Spain – and is even earlier in effect in the West of Spain. The recommendation by advisers to the Comision that 08:30 was a good time to start work just showed that their knowledge was impaired by a lack of such relevant information as above in the Education System in Spain.

(An additional point made by those advisers concerned the apparent “lateness” of the publics´ activities on the clockwork – which again is a complete illusion, since the clockwork itself runs two to 2 ½ hours later than the realtime day in the Summer and Autumn period !). (The evening meal is quite early in the "realtime evening").

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Another major factor concerns the Quality of Life and service received by tourist visitors (and foreign residents) in Spain. Because of isolation from Spanish news they are unaware of the cause of problems incurred by the lateness of the realtime day. Accordingly, the current news is that the occupation figures of accommodation of visitors is now falling in Spain – but has been increased in other areas of the Mediterranean – where, I stress, the realtime daily cycle is NOT the same as in France and Spain, being effectively reduced by one hour in lateness at all time of the year. (The fact that the clockwork reads identically over much of Europe does not mean that the indicated time is the same in realtime terms over the extent of the region). Additionally, most of the North African Coast (e.g. Tunisia and Morocco) is additionally attractive because the reduction on the clockwork is effectively two hours in Summer and one hour in Winter – there is no special addition to the clockwork hours at any time of the year!

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The above factor which is of most concern to Spain (- especially to Dr Enrique Herrera ^^ , Dermatologist of Malaga Hospital – who now proclaims in the newspaper “SUR in English” that all persons should be forbidden to sunbathe on the beaches between 12noon and 4 pm(sic) - perhaps just to highlight the problem of the incidence of skin cancer and melanomas which appears to be out of control) is that sunbathing visitors do not appreciate the lateness of the peak power of the Sun in the realtime day – which appears at about 2:15pm in mid-Spain, and not about one o´clock as expected!). Dr Herrara´s reporting that Malaga is seriously high on the list of hazardous sunbathing areas in Europe is enough to cause a serious downturn in the concentration of visitors to Spain – resulting in a preference to go elsewhere!

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Regards.

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Please realise that the following has words slightly modified to allow the translation by a computer of the original English article in SUR-in-English, 29009 MALAGA, Spain 11 to 17 January, 2008.

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ANNOTATION of newspaper information article - with important connotations for the understanding of TIME in SPAIN.

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Meals and meal times (Ongoing series of explanatory articles in SUR-in-English).

By Liz Parry, Editor.

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Lunchtime in Spain is still in general a time to sit down with the family and to enjoy a calm change of news, though the demon TV is not often included in the ritual, resounding far in a corner and happy noticing unless some kind of general interest (as the news of football?) soon claims the attention of the family. Increasing numbers of Spanish women go out to work, so that they do not go to the market every day, buying fresh products and then creating satisfying lunches for the rest of the family. NOTE: the hours of clock are not explained in the following - but they follow the real time hours of the Sun in fact!

Newcomers to Spain are often taken aback by the unaccustomed meal times - not to mention sizes. At first glance it seems that Spanish workers, after a quick cup of coffee, leave the house in the morning and return for the first meal of the day between 2:00 to 2:30 p.m. Not one of the Spanish housewives I know supplies so much as a slice of toast for the departing workers in the morning, let alone a cooked breakfast. Children sometimes eat biscuits or cereals, but they are just as likely to rush off to school with only a glass of milk to keep them going.

Appearances, however, are misleading. These children, which certainly does not appear to be malnourished (euphemism!), They carry substantial snacks in their portfolios to devour during the first break. After an hour or two in the office or on the production line, workers will take a break for a coffee and a "churros" snack. Hence the reason for the number of men in the streets and bars at mid-morning - they are not, as you may think, all unemployed, but merely pause to enjoy breakfast (at 8:00 am by the sunclock - the site sometimes prevail in West Spain in the summer - but 2 hours before at 8:30 pm in the east of Spain). It is also likely to stop at the bar again later, before heading home for lunch, as above, for a glass of beer or wine and tapas.

Lunch, when it comes – 2:00 to 2:30 pm ( actually 12 noon – Solar - in most of Spain), will probably consist of three courses, starting with a salad or egg dish, or in winter, one of the marvellous soups and stews, concoctions made with lentils, chick peas or beans. Meat or fish will follow, fried as often as not, and there will be fruit for dessert for anyone still in need of sustenance. One Spanish family I know has taken the unprecedented move of serving the fruit first, otherwise their children finish the second course with no room left for anything else, and hence never eat fruit! ( - a nutritional deficiency – increasing body weight? ).

The next meal after lunch is 'merienda' – about British Teatime, a movable feast which consists of coffee or soft drinks, with buns, doughnuts or sandwiches. It's not unusual around six o'clock to see children making inroads into half a loaf of bread liberally filled with cold meats or chocolate, to keep them going until dinner time, which for them, is immediately before bedtime ( although appearing to visitors to do so, children are not up late – 10:30 pm being 8:00 pm solar in Summer ). At nine or ten, or even later in summer, the family will again be eating a meal, which, though less substantial than the midday feast, is not to be sneezed at (the evening meal is, of course, quite early on the daily Sun routine – at 6:30 to 7:30pm truetimes mentioned in Summer!).

Annotated by ScarletPlumBlossomCadiz !

  REVISED  11 /  X I  / 2008

More about nosh , particularly in SW / W /  &  NW Spain - OK! the latter is only of potential concern in the future!

I am guilty of harping on further concerning that news item in May 6 on page 11 in “The Oracle – Cadiz/Seville” on “Andalucian Kids Among the Fattest”.

The prime point of the article is that Andalucia, as a unit, is number 4 in order of ”gross numbers” of the overweight peeps in Spain.

I am not considering the case of the Canaries – where the time on the clocks differs by one hour less from that in Spain, but still necessarily provides an extreme case because they are far to the west of their real time meridian longitude line on the map (which, of course is actually the Salerno, Italy one in Summer, but is the Castellon one in Winter!).

I don´t have the actual statistics other than the current percentage data shown overall for the whole of Andalucia, but since the previous reports in the Cadiz newspapers that I referred to in “New Craze in Andalucia?” stated that Cadiz Province had the most numerous fattest children in Spain, I can only infer that Cadiz is therefore still the worst area for the problem in Andalucia at this time! That could increase the importance of the ranking for Cadiz over much of the areas mentioned in the article (Cantabria and Murcia - the latter is not part of Andalucia) – if not actually putting Cadiz as top rank  .

If you are disbelieving about the clocks being so strange in Spain (and France, too) – all you need to do is look at the Weather page in a prominent newspaper, to find the day´s sunrise and sunset times quoted in the Spanish clocktime (look for “Orca, Salida,etc” “Ocaso, Puesta,etc”).

Subtract one time from the other to yield the duration of the likely sunshine hours. Halve that time, remembering the 60´s, not 100´s,  rules to add that duration to the sunrise time and - Hey Presto! You have the true time for midday on the Spanish clocks in the place stated by the newspaper (admittedly not always clear, since "El Mundo" always quotes Madrid whatever edition is in your locality) – about 14:00 to 14:30 pm in the “double summertime” on those clocks, depending simply how far west in Spain is your location!

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

.

Here are more of my comments on current “Punnish History” which are influenced by the above unbelievable situation in Spain:

WHAT MATTERS FOR THE FUTURE ?

SÖCIAL SCIENCE is márvellous fún!

Chánging the líves for ´most éveryóne,

Insight it shóws - fixing clóck times in Spáin -

Mánaging lúnch - to achíeve your weight gáin (?)

Dídn´t it mátter - to tíme by the Sún ?

Allow me to put just one brief line in here in Spanish, quoting Winston Churchill´s famous tribute round about 1942.

“¡ Nunca, en la historia del Reino de España, tanta gente han tenido tantas ganas de comer, por tan poco de esfuerzo ! "

“Never,  in the history of the Kingdom of Spain,  have grown so overweight, so many  -  for so little effort!”

That is a perfect accompaniment to “vicious quips” - but is mis-attributed!

.

( New Pages follow on TIME,  but NOT concerned much with Nosh!)

 REVISED   11 / XI / 2008

Come on,  Now!  -  those of you could not believe the limerick at the end of  Page 2;  Please just take a brief look at this:

"SunSmart" of Cancer Research UK (org), with whom I correspond quite frequently, tells us that the "time of culmination of the Sun" or "High Noon", is the time when the Sun is almost overhead in Summer in Spain (or anywhere else near the same).  In the UK, the Sun is high at about 1:00 pm - in Summer.
So in the UK everyone gets drummed into their heads to be careful from 11 am to 3 pm.  (I am sure that you recognise that, because it even appears in copies of UK papers in Spain, and,  Heaven knows, where-else? ).
Do you think that makes sense when "culmination time" in Summer in Spain and Western France is at 2:00 to 2:40 pm - including both Galicia and Brittany - because of the way the clocks have been set in those countries for yonks!

Below is a timetable showing the reason why culmination times are so late in Spain and the Canaries - it is because in Summer the clocks in Spain are fixed legally by the Spanish Government to indicate the true ancient sunclock time activated by the Sun at 30º East of Greenwich. That is, at no less than at Istanbul, Turkey.  The strangeness of the times for culmination should be clear for one afternoon  in Summer throughout the Mediterranean to the Canaries:

The particular times shown in the "express" route are just descriptive of the property that the Earth turns beneath the Sun - which appears to travel accross the sky from East to West!

´

Below, is a description of an imaginary SUN travelling the Mediterranean from Turkey (starting out at a true time imagined to be truly 12:00 o´clock in the afternoon) to The Canary Islands - South-West of the Mediterranean area in the Atlantic Ocean.

The "express" speeds at a phenomenal Mach 1.8 westwards from Istanbul, Turkey, to Santiago de Compostela and The Canary Islands.

It has a special consignment for delivery of the “High Noon Time” at each “station” - and for every simultaneously, instantaneous arrival at change, "branchline" destinations !

As a special service for sun-bathers, the validity of the SunSmart Guidance Factor ( Care from 11am to 3pm ) is posted for all destinations!
The “marginal” indicator is shown for the Guidance Factor increased by one hour (11am to 4pm) to allow for areas to be permitted to the west.
The Spanish legal time for Summer  HOP, “hora oficial peninsular”, CEST or GMT+2, is quoted for the principal departure times until it is no longer valid.

´

NOTES relevant to the table below:
* The official “TIME ZONE” nomenclature of EEST, or GMT+3, can be put equivalent to CEST or GMT+2  instead of the actual EEST. So the starting time is taken to be 12:00 HOP midday - which is to be expected to be true in Istanbul in summertime.
** One hour down on the appropriate times is for North Europe on WEST or BST (GMT+1)

*** Two hours down on the time is usual for much of western N. Africa on GMT(UTC) – with NO special time on the clocks in Summer.
 

´´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ COCINERO´S  ´  S O L A R  ´  T I M E T A B L E  ´  FOR  ´  J U N E

NOTES:  longit. merid?   STATION   dep./arr. ´CR-UK   ´Change for:+guide   ´Arrives

Dep.12:00.30º E...YES... I S T A N B U L...13:00 EEST...YES........(dep) Marmaris (YES)...13:00 EEST

.................24º E................ A T H E N S.... 12:24 HOP..marg.........Crete - Warsaw (marg.).13:24 EEST

................18º E............... DUBROVNIK(A) 13:48 EEST...............Stockholm - Brindisi(YES).12:48 CEST

´ 

     ............................Confirm  change  of  watch  time  to  HOP  (CEST/GMT+2)

Dep12:48..18º E.............DUBROVNIK........12:48 HOP...YES.......Split - Vienna (YES).......12:48 CEST

...............15º E.....YES....SALERNO (It.)...13:00 HOP...YES......Malta – Prague (YES)......13:00 CEST

...............13º E..............P A L E R M O......13:08 HOP...YES.......Berlin - Rome (YES).......13:08 CEST

............... 9º E..............S A R D I N I A....13:24 HOP..marg....Genoa – Denmark marg... 13:24 CEST

...............1º 30´E......... M A J O R C A......13:54 HOP..NO..........Barca – Paris ( NO )......13:54 CEST

... ............. 0º......YES.. CASTELLON........14:00 HOP..NO.....LondonYES**Oran YES..13:00BST/13:00CET

...............1º 00´W....... .CARTAGENA.......14:04 HOP..NO.......French Biscay ( NO )........14:04 CEST

...............3º 30´W........G R A N A D A......14:14 HOP..NO....Edinb.marg**Madrid (NO)..13:14 WEST/BST

...............5º 24´W...... .GIBRALTAR.........14:22 HOP..NO......Fez(Morocco) (marg)***..12:22 WET/GMT

Train divides.6º 15´W.....C A D I Z............14:25 HOP..NO.......Rosslare - Rabat(marg)**..13:25 WEST/BST

.........................................(Pilgrim Express)

Terminus 1..8º 30´W...SantIago de C.......14:34 HOP..NO.......Lisbon – Cork (marg.)**...13:34 WEST/BST

................................................................- - - - - - -

Express pt2 .7º 30´W....PORTUGAL FR.....14:30 HOP..NO.......Tipperary ( marg )**........13:30 WEST/BST

.................................................................- - - - - - -

.........................................(Tropical Express)

.............7º 30´W.........PORTUGAL FR......13:30 BST..marg..........Orense ( NO )...............14:30 HOP

............8º 00´W............ F A R O..............13:32 BST.marg..........Belfast ( marg )**...........13:32 WEST/BST

Terminus 215º W.YES ..Canarias............14:02 BST..NO............. No Service

...............................................................- - - - - - -

Continuing the narrative - You are here: 

SunSmart ..........http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/healthyliving/sunsmart/

´

Welcome to SunSmart - the UK's national skin cancer prevention campaign

Pick an easy pair (won´t make a lot of difference for Spain) such as Barcelona here, obviously CEST midday is at 13:50 – because 15 hours with Sun and 9 hours without means you add 7½ hours to around 6:20 am - or whatever. (Canaries: also 13:50, but 13:58 at the further points 15º West in the Canaries!). Obviously, that addition for half of the day will vary with the date.

I don´t know if the Canaries Government admits to “WEST” equivalent name!

Now for the harsh facts - What is it that is happening to the foreign residents of all origins in the Malaga area who apparently don´t know that the Sun is the most powerful on a normal day in Summer at around 2:30 pm on the Spanish clockwork?  Unfortunately, that is precisely what the following newspaper report tells us!

 R E V I S E D  ´  11 / X I / 2008

My assertion is that there are severe consequences for everyone in Spain which result merely from the unknown nature of the effects of having the following:

1) principally, summertime of one hour and more on the Spanish clocks in WINTER!  (i.e., clocks already one hour forward of normal in Winter on GMT + 1).

2) further hazards for everyone for having "double summertime" of two hours and more in Summer! (that is: two hours forward of normal in Summer on GMT + 2).

3) experts in Spain have no knowledge it appears of the exact manner in which such a bizarre situation in Spain has arisen on the clocks over the period of 1830 to 1918.  (Specific changes on the clock and their effects not taught at any time in the Education  System - except to navigators and astronomers). 

4) concerning everybody, there is little knowledge of the strange delay in time of most activities in Spain. (Everyone assumes that the delays are a tradition in Spain - but not so, it was since only 1918! - when the two hours or more were put on the clockwork - but effectively ignored for the most part!).

5. almost complete indifference of the public to the strange time factors and their effects on daily life in Spain! (Errors concerning time both on public clocks and for events are not of much concern to anyone! For the whole year the bells of the Cathedral in Cadiz have been pealing out British Summertime instead of the Spanish one !).

6. The Administration in Spain has persuaded the prime TV News channel rtve 1 to have a special program item in it´s news on the day of the initiation of the “wintertime” in Europe (Sunday 26 October). The favourable propaganda for the “beginning of the SPANISH double summertime” in 1974 (sic !) was bad enough for the principal expert in Spain to respond vigorously on the other popular news channel Telecinco on the morning of 29 October – to convey his ideas on changes required (his solution not being too sensible for Spain, which appears to be the abolition of the Siesta for workers !).

7)  In General, it is the viciousness of TIME in the mornings that is most apparent for almost everyone that works in Spain  - except for those in the shops! (The problems occur for the most part in the hours before sunrise for too much of the year, so I guess that you might not be too affected! ). I would like to make it clear that this does seem to be a vice for the future for folks in Spain - not just for now!  For the most part, mornings are unnecessarily very dark in September, October, December, January and the beginning of April ! The expert in 6) above, the President of the National Independent Commission for the “Rationalisation” of Working Hours in Spain, Sr. Don Ignacio Buqueras y Bach, emphasised in a news broadcast on tve 1 in December 2005 that sleepy somnolescence was rife in Spain during school and work mornings – and proposed a later start was essential!

Over the past years, since 2004, I have been trying to convey the substance of that particular property of the clocks in Spain to newspapers and officialdom, generally in the Costas of Sol and Luz.

Everyone seems to believe, I suspect, that the Spanish clocks tell a true time and that it makes no difference at all that the clocks here show the time which they might be told also holds in Berlin and Rome . . . but, in Summer, Berlin uses its own Summertime - and that extra one hour has to mean that it is  the true sunclock time in Istanbul, Turkey  -  that holds on the clocks of most of the OLD European Union countries) and can only mean 2 1/2 hours extra added to the realtime sunclock time in Cadiz!  This can be seen from Cocinero´s Timetable for the Occidental High Noon Express. (Legally in Spain, it corresponds to 2 hours extra on the East Coast of Spain, which can be assumed to be at Castellon, near Valencia) .

My investigation led to the conclusion that the complete history of how the situations to be described below, came to exist in Spain is neither well known nor taught to pupils at any stage in the Education System. That becomes almost obvious from the recent history of the Cadiz Time Meridian Longitude as described by the historian Francisco Ponce Cordones of Rota, pcia. Cadiz, where no mention is made of the two major almost permanent changes in the clocktime of Spain since about 1910 - the second one as early as 1918! (The latter was repeated in 1974)

It is also very apparent that children are mistakenly taught that the times of 12:00 - both in the nighttime and the daytime have some special significance in Spain – when in reality the centre of the night or daytime in Spain, particularly in Summer, is closely connected with the officially termed “Culmination of the Sun Time”, some 2 to 2 ½ hours later than 12:00 hours, (1 to 1 1/2 hours later in Winter).

Another seemingly unknown to experts here  (especially dermatologists away from Cadiz)  is the added effect on the realtime that appears officially based in obscurity on the the change to Greenwich 0º meridian from that of Cadiz - and is thus valid for the East Coast at Castellon, near Valencia on the other side of Spain - which produces that extra 1/2 hour just mentioned for Cadiz - since it appears that the Sun reaches the West necessarily later than it does in Castellon!

Other problems arise from the clock time in Spain - and such problems have grown gradually more evident as more of the population (and foreign residents) are increasingly involved in rush hours, being on the beach, still not aware how late in the afternoon the Sun is most powerful, at work having an incredibly early lunch - so that they gain much weight by being hungrier than usual more later in the afternoon.   Both workers and schoolchildren were said by the Comision Nacional, "En Hora" to be dull, or drowsy in the early morning - even when workers are in hazardous situations in construction sites - or operating complicated machinery { as in 7) above}.

This is the result:

a) Melanomas and Skin Cancer are proliferating in the Costa del Sol ("SURinENGLISH" March, 2007).

b) Very high traffic accident statistics for the abnormal dark mornings in Spain (but NOT in Portugal because clocks are on GMT in Winter there)

c) Children in Cadiz Province being more overweight (& the Adults!) than others in Spain - Commerce wants lunches to be very early in the morning in realtime. Not only that, they are rather drowsy in the morning school sessions - because they start far too early in the realtime mornings !

d) Energy is NO Longer saved by Double Summertime because of so much lighting on the 1000´s of kilometres of main roads - to prevent commuters from falling to sleep while driving to work (SCHOOL Buses also are driven to the schools before sunrise for too much of the year). (Direccion General de Trafico has been showing on TV a driver nodding drowsily - but in daylight!).

The newspaper in Cadiz has reported around February with a full breakdown of a day with 37 deaths on the roads last year and it reported that 35% of the deaths occurred in the period of "midnight" to 7:00 am - which for much of the year is before sunrise in most of Spain. ( There are not many such full breakdown reports to be found ).

e) Seemingly coming to the fore in the news are the very bad statistics for industrial accidents and accidents on construction sites in Spain!   I specifically mentioned in my submission to the "Comision Nacional" (En hora!) that the ridiculously early start to the working day (say as "late" as 08:00 hours HOP) in Winter - which in realtime in Cadiz is at 06:30 (solar) hours - before sunrise ( at 08:45 hours HOP) - is a real factor in assessing the ability of workers aware enough at such times to function safely !

f) The numbers of visitors accommodated in rooms in Spain has been falling recently (but before the financial crisis) - but in Turkey and Egypt in particular, and I would believe in Central Mediterranean too, the accommodation factor has increased by up to 17% - as reported by newspaper "Viva-Cadiz". 

Here is the latest on factor f)

  SUR in English article predicting the downturn later in October, 2008.

Item in General News titled: "All the eggs in the same basket"
By A. S. T.
´ EXTRACT:
"Building and tourism have traditionally been the basis of the Costa del Sol ’s economy. But new data questions the wisdom of this dependence . . . "

" . . . Tourism is the fuel feeding the construction industry, and tourism has decreased – or not increased at the same rate as in previous years - in the province over recent years . . ."
END of Extract.

´ NOW ´ the impresarios are saying that Turkey and Egypt are gaining more visitors in the competition with Spain. The fact that those countries have the right time on their clocks must be a great relief factor for tourists! (See REVISION in the first posting above in this Forum showing the decline in AUGUST 2008 of various nationalities as non resident "overnight stays" (multiple!) ).

Here follows a not-too-difficult demo of the situation in the Mediterranean:

ALEXANDRIA, E G Y P T:
31.2° N 30.0° E
Sun Rise and Set Times for August 1, 2008:

Local Time: ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Sun Rise: ´ ´ ´ ´ ´Sun Set:
(Normal Summertime)6:17 AM EEST ´ ´ 7:55 PM EEST ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Midday at 12:06 HOP (13:06 EEST)

EEST is Eastern European SummerTime (45º East of Greenwich) - or HOP + 1 - where HOP is the summertime Spanish Time.

For these first two quoted cases, it is a good idea to be extra careful about the strength of the Sun at about ONE o´CLOCK on their summertime clocks. (that is, to follow the oft-quoted "11 am to 3 pm" advice from London - which, after all the fuss, is still applicable to a country which has a sensible ONE hour extra on it´s clocks! - while Spain & France have TWO extra hours present during the Summer!).

@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @

ANTALYA Airport, T U R K E Y:
36.7° N 30.7° E
Sun Rise and Set Times for August 1, 2008:

Local Time: ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Sun Rise: ´ ´ ´ ´ ´Sun Set:
(Normal Summertime) 6:03 AM EEST ´ ´ 8:03 PM EEST ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Midday at 12:03 HOP (13:03 EEST)

@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @

ALICANTE Airport, S P A I N:
38.3° N 0.6° W
Sun Rise and Set Times for August 1, 2008:

Local Time: ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Sun Rise: ´ ´ ´ ´ ´Sun Set:
(Double Summertime) 7:04 AM HOP ´ ´ 9:11 PM HOP ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Midday at 14:07 HOP

HOP is the summertime Spanish Time. 

On the Eastern side of Spain - and in the Canary Islands, because of the "double summertime" it is a good idea to be extra careful about the strength of the Sun at about TWO o´CLOCK in Summer. (that is, ´ N O T ´ to follow the oft-quoted "11 am to 3 pm" advice from London). But, in the West of both Spain and France - because the Earth & the Sun do NOT obey Spanish Law concerning the two hours - but agree to be late - you must be careful around HALF PAST TWO, or 14:30 / 2:30 pm!

As for a), above,  I have summarised the situation by:

Some Sayings relevant to the strange timings on the Spanish Clocks, and their influence on the insufficient Guidance from http://www.CancerresearchUK.org ( Officially, 11 am to 3 pm is only valid on the Mainland of Great Britain!).

´ ´ Sirdani, BBC Steam Radio (catchphrase, to competition participants)

´ ´ ´ ´ ´ " Don´t ´ be ´ Fried ! "

´ ´ My own contributions:

´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Clocks in Spain 
´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´Let Your Brain 
´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Take the Strain !

. . . and . . .

 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ If you want to know the time,
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ - Ask a Politician !

Corollary:
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ If you want to know which Time Zone,
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ - Ask a Politician !

 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Watch that CLOCK in SPAIN!:
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ It is ´ E A R L I E R ´ than you think !

 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ In SPAIN, Man must bide
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´Waiting for Time and Tide !

´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Try not to wake up
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´TOO EARLY in the morning !

´  In Summer, the Sun always rises very early in the morning
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ - EVEN in Spain !

´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ( If you see some of the "realtime" times that I quote
´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´- then, for summertime´s sake,
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´you may add ONE hour to them! )

´ ´ ´ ´ ´ The clock in Madrid
´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´Lies mainly
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´Through cog teeth !

  ´ ´ ´ ´ IT´S the astronomers who set the clocks
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´BUT always with their heads above the clouds
´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ - THEY cannot see what´s below the clouds !

 ´ ´ Noel Coward, (1920´s) - paraphrased:

 ´ ´ ´ ´ "Mad Dogs of Britishmen go out in the High Noon Sun,
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ - out in the High Noon
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ - out in the High Noon
 ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ ´ - out in the High Noon SUN !"

IS THE SUNBATHER FOR BURNING ?


There wás a sunbáther who vísited Spáin
Who ónly had púrpose - a súntan to gáin
He´d sít in the sháde at a tíme known at hóme.
( Great sháme that the ríght time is NOT in this póem,
But typical thát is, for pápers in Spáin! ).


That time is known to be at the above-stated time of "Culmination" - or at 2:00pm to 2:30pm in Summer in Spain  (about 1:00pm to 1:30pm - especially in late Winter).

DITHERING  WITH  LOGIC

There have been two peculiarities in particular over the past three years in my investigation here in the great Time Centre of Spain.

Peculiarity No.1:

Why is the Observatory so reticent about the history of time in Spain during the period of, shall I guess, 1800 to about 1910? - I tried to find out from their web-site - but in 2005 it merely mentioned the start of double summertime in 1918 but not the start of the base GMT+1 time earlier in the century!

The recent article by a local historian Don Francisco Ponce Cordones giving great detail about the origin of the Observatory, did not clear up the problem. That is because he ended it in the air concerning the change in the definition of the “Time Meridian” located in Cadiz - to what he seemed to imply was directly the time meridian of Greenwich (i.e., GMT). The latter is convenient to describe in Spain as being located at Castellon, near Valencia, namely at 0º West.

That in itself raises questions, because, somewhere around the 1910 – 1912 International Treaty period – Spain appears to have followed France in rejecting the direct use of GMT as it was called!
However, the problem, as I see it, is that the transition of the meridian from Cadiz to, say, Salerno in Italy, as required by the use of GMT+1 hours, could well have been very complicated – not a simple, once and for all change in the Spanish Law.

I will leave that problem in the air, to turn to

Peculiarity No.2:

I have previously tried to give a simple explanation as to why the Spanish people seem not to realise that their clockwork earlier in the past showed different times in the day and night for general activities than they have more or less constantly seen during the last 90 years!

I believe that the explanation I gave concerning Sir Arthur Conan Doyle´s use of alibis in London, but no one of repute writing the same details at that time for alibis in Madrid – is too simple to explain such a loss of memory on such a large scale (although, I think that example provides a basis for a logical progression towards the truth?).

What could be conjectured, though, is that the actual timings of daily events in the period described for the clocktime changes above (1800 – 1910?) were extraordinarily jumbled by various changes in the nature of the lawful time on perhaps a number of occasions by the Spanish Government. (I do not know how how many times that happened).

Returning to Peculiarity No.1,  to see if a logical explanation is possible.

  Peculiarity No.1 (Continued):

The possible route that Time Meridians followed politically in Spain since 1800?

1) Initially, when the time was established by the astronomers in Cadiz. Greenwich, and  elsewhere, it was known that it would be necessary somehow to have a standardised time, because the sunclock was both variable and inaccurate, and, also the indicated time changed too much in accordance with the degree of travel in the east – west direction.

2) In 1800 it was only possible for the astronomers to let Madrid know the time by physically sending a clock chronometer by stage coach on a bumpy road. They compromised by informing the observers in Madrid by post the procedure of by how much time the Madrid-observed culmination time should be altered to match the time found by Cadiz. (It should be noted that for some years around 1810 until the defeat of Napoleon, Cadiz was the recognised Capital of Free Spain!).

3) During the 1830´s, the railways were spreading fast. Fortunately, at that time, the electric telegraph made its appearance at the side of the tracks.  To shorten the account, that meant at last that accurate time signals could be sent as required from Cadiz to Madrid.

4) Conjecture No.1, Did the Government in Madrid then require the astronomers to state the time for Madrid - instead of Cadiz ? The Spanish Law had to establish something for Spain, just as the British Government did for the UK (I believe it was 1834) – and there, if you wanted to know the time, you had to ask a policeman!  That required the time on the clocks to be changed on one occasion for everyone in Spain by about 11 minutes. (Midday in Cadiz at 12:11 ).

5) Conjecture No.2, Later, did the Government then follow French insistence on transferring the official meridian from Madrid to PARIS? - Very likely, because the French Academy – of great “Standards for everything” fame was trying to get the World to accept Paris Standards instead of Greenwich. If so, then the astronomers in Cadiz had to calculate the official time in Paris – to add a further change on the clocks for the suffering public – this time the full amount added to the original sun time in Cadiz would be roughly 38 minutes (Paris after all was only different at that time from Greenwich by about 12 minutes). (Midday in Cadiz at 12:38 roughly).

6) Conjecture No.3, Nevertheless, the World refused the French insistence and plumped for Greenwich. Did the Spanish Government first accept that (about 1910?) and require the Cadiz astronomers to calculate for a meridian, at last, at Castellon. That meant hi-jacking the Paris time by a few minutes. (The time for midday in Cadiz would take on a more familiar aspect of the difference of 26 minutes, i.e., 12:26 pretty exactly).

7) Known step, for once!  Because the French refused to comply directly with the use of GMT as stated by Greenwich, they opted instead to use summertime of +1 hour permanently on their clocks (i.e., that near-Berlin time of GMT+1). Possibly for the purposes of international railway safety between the two countries, the Spanish Government ordered the astronomers to put the meridian at the identical position to the French, at Salerno, Italy, 15º East of Greenwich. The luckless public finally reached base with midday at 13:26 at Cadiz. (Later to be used as the basis for the Winter Time in Spain).

8) One more step: (but repeated in 1974)  in 1918 was for Spain again to follow France by imposing double summertime of an additional hour on the clocks in Summer, to the meridian at Istanbul, Turkey at 30º East of Greenwich. The time on the clocks then being changed by a total of 2 hours  26 minutes in Cadiz from the situation in 1800! (Midday in Cadiz in Summer is at 14:26 – a mean value! And mean treatment of the public).
Is it any wonder that the people have lost all recollection of the time for activities in the past?
Once again, I stress that the full story is conjectural – but some of the changes were made!

WHAT DIFFERS IN THE HISTORIAN´S ACCOUNT?

Prior to Step 3) above, Don Francisco Ponce Cordones gives a full account of the founding of the service provided by the astronomers in the Marines Observatory, firstly based in Cadiz City, and then relocated to San Fernando. This is just to mention that his account skipped from the end of the period described in PART 3) to the beginning of PART 6) 3)During the 1830´s, the railways were spreading fast. Fortunately, at that time, the electric telegraph made its appearance at the side of the tracks.  To shorten the account, that meant at last that accurate time signals could be sent as required from Cadiz to Madrid. OMITTED 4) Conjecture No.1, Did the Government in Madrid then require the astronomers to state the time for Madrid - instead of Cadiz ? The Spanish Law had to establish something for Spain, just as the British Government did for the UK (I believe it was 1834) – and there, if you wanted to know the time, you had to ask a policeman!  That required the time on the clocks to be changed on one occasion for everyone in Spain by about 11 minutes. (Midday in Cadiz at 12:11 ). 5) Conjecture No.2, Later, did the Government then follow French insistence on transferring the official meridian from Madrid to PARIS? - Very likely, because the French Academy – of great “Standards for everything” fame was trying to get the World to accept Paris Standards instead of Greenwich. If so, then the astronomers in Cadiz had to calculate the official time in Paris – to add a further change on the clocks for the suffering public – this time the full amount added to the original sun time in Cadiz would be roughly 38 minutes (Paris after all was only different at that time from Greenwich by about 12 minutes). (Midday in Cadiz at 12:38 roughly). Then he plumps for straight to Castellon: 6) Conjecture No.3, Nevertheless, the World refused the French insistence and plumped for Greenwich. Did the Spanish Government first accept that (about 1910?) and require the Cadiz astronomers to calculate for a meridian, at last, at Castellon. That meant hi-jacking the Paris time by a few minutes. (The time for midday in Cadiz would take on a more familiar aspect of the difference of 26 minutes, i.e., 12:26 pretty exactly). BUT, THEN finishes the story prematurely there - leaving out all about GMT+1 and the later addition in Summer to GMT+2 described by me in PARTS 7) and 8). Is it a wonder that I revealed to everyone that the story was incomplete! (I told the simpler version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle´s alibis, to explain the "loss of memory" of the people, but the fuller version is a much more likely explanation!).