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.