TIME, Gentlemen, Please

As I have tried to outline in my Blog on Britishexpats, there have been a number of serious consequences developing over the period of more than a 100 years since the basic time on Spanish (and French) clocks was changed effectively different to the natural location of Greenwich Time (now known as Universal Coordinated Time, during Winter).

The most serious consequences have been associated with the increasing numbers of accidents in the extremely early morning time thus experienced – especially in westerly and central parts of Spain. Such accidents arise in both road rush-hour travel and in the hazards of Construction Site Working.

For Foreign Residents and Visitors – there is the particular, unexplained problem of the peak Sun Hazard much later in the afternoon (at "High Noon" or Culmination Time) – namely in Summer at a mean time of 2:20 pm on Spanish clocks – and not about one o´clock as experienced in most localities outside the French and Spanish influence. A less seriously regarded problem has become established as a result of both public and official disregard of the strange time existing on the clocks for 90 years (for Summer). Since 1918, mealtimes in Spain have been about 2 hours later on the clocks than almost anywhere else!

Big Business, however, prefers employees to have lunch (along with preschool children) at say, 12:30 pm on the clocks. It ignores the fact that the clocks themselves are running more than two hours fast for 7 months in the year – and about one.hour and a half fast at this season. Consequently, preschool children, in particular, are having lunch in westerly parts of Spain at about 10 am in realtime. – Whereas, schoolchildren mainly eat at the so-called traditional time starting about 2 to 2:30 pm ("HOP", which of course is about midday noon in realtime, sunclock time). In consequence, persons in the strange experience are much hungrier at around "high teatime" than the "traditional" eaters. They are hungry enough to eat beyond their personal biosystem requirements – compared to the others!

A similar, less regarded consequence of the traditional mealtimes – all of a hot breakfast, full lunch and a full evening meal – is that visitors are not told in a proper informed way about the strange time condition, and feel that the meals are a) at times too late, b) require sitting down at a "normal" time, seemingly on the clocks, in order to have a reserved place, and c) do not realise that the traditional mealtime is at the (correct, but hidden) realtime of day! That does not encourage visitors to return to Spain for a subsequent holiday.

The Comision Nacional recognises how ridiculously early in realtime morning are the starting times for school and most commercial work (Note that, since 1918, the sensible market and shop trades have a starting time about 2 hours later than the above-mentioned localities).

HOWEVER, the reform is not to readjust the clocks to put everything on a reasonable, realtime basis. No, they instead want to abolish the Siesta period, so that work time,etc., can start later in realtime – like the shops do.

Of course, that ignores the fact that many employees will have to work at least some of the period from 2 pm to 5 pm in the hazardous environment – also ignoring the fact that work is not at its most efficient under the conditions which apply exactly at the time sunbathers need to take most protection from 12 midday to 5 pm. The ensuing, associated health problems will not benefit the campaign of "Turismo" to attract sun-bathing guests to Spain.

Another factor, which has become all-too-prevalent since office and commercial workers have commenced to work during the Siesta period, is that the facilities for rush hour travel became inadequate to cope – leading to much duplication of the previous road and rail facilities around the cities.

Abolishing the Siesta for the majority will cause further gridlock in the inadequacy of the current system! - nearly everyone will want to go home at about the same time, irrespective of attempts to stagger working hours.

There has been far too much silence in all of the media on a topic which will prove to have been vital for the future of the Quality of Life in Spain!

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