Hallo Pete_l!
NO! eating too early in the day for lunch at 10:00am (12:30 in Cadiz in Summer) means employees and their pre-school children are hungrier than usual at their traditional "teatime or merienda", while schoolchildren are at school for later in the day.
You couldn´t be more Spot On! 2nd para 100%. Double Summertime started here to the surprise of many, 2 years after France began that in 1916 - ostensibly, of course, to save energy. It did so then, and somewhat also in 1974 in Spain when it was restarted (Ran for 16 years after 1918).
Now-a-days, that is untrue, because of so much increase in the activity of most workers and schoolchildren quite unnecessarily before dawn for too many days in the year - including September/October and April in the double summertime months. The severe traffic accident statistics in Spain occupy about 35% for the period 12 "midnight" to 7:00 am on the clocks - and the latter time is 1 3/4 hours before sunrise here in Cadiz in Winter - and much more in Galicia! This alone means that there is always activity on the main highways to illuminate all quite brightly to keep commuters and school busdrivers from falling to sleep before dawn!
Your next para about eating at 9 -10 pm IS correct - but, alas, in Spain this whole gubbins is almost Top Secret (especially, by default, perhaps, during the Franco regime- so much so, that only astronomers, such as yourself, and maybe such as those who habitually use GMT (UTC) - weather observers, etc., could recognise what you have just stated). The "Comision Nacional in Madrid" was advised by trained graduates who were telling it that the Spanish population was having lunch too late, having dinner too late and going to bed too much too late! THAT is the way everyone sees it - because the situation has not been stated to them in the Education System at any time - though I hope that the University in Cadiz will follow my urgings.
Yes, of course those in the know - and there appear to be some in Big Business and the newspapers have jumped at the start of the existence of the European Commission to proclaim the great advantage to business, etc, that the clocks show the real Solar Time in Istanbul, Turkey during the Summer. Unfortunately for Spain, the clocks showing the same time in Berlin do NOT have the same meaning for the realtime day in Spain.
Cheers

Hallo bokeh,
A Good Observation!
You are jumping the gun a little, because my first page to the Forum is only a brief introduction - also the full story here is not just about nosh as another member remarked - unfortunately for everyone in Spain there are a number of other topics affecting life from the time aspect!
Your remark would be true if Galicia was as heavily commercialised, industrialised and Big Business-minded as Cadiz and Seville. There just are NOT enough persons in Galicia having a too-early lunch to bring about the statistic that you stated. For myself, I would fully expect Seville to be about as bad as Cadiz. Incidentally, I have just briefly notified pete-l that Galicia suffers more from extremely gloomy mornings in Winter - something difficult to find anywhere in the Mediterranean except France.
What is most apparent is that the children in the East of Spain are NOT so affected, because they would have the early 12:30 lunch starting at 10:30am instead of 10:00 am (Legally in Spain in Summer the clocks on the Greenwich Meridian on the East Coast of Spain are supposed to be 2 hours different to the Sun time there - but the Sun appears to take another 1/2 hour to "reach" the Portuguese border).
Thanks for the opportunity to explain the horrors for Cadiz!
Cheers.

Hallo, rugbymatt,
Hope you have been able to see the article I was referring to (Cadiz,Seville monthly, May 2008). Its a shame that the rules say that I cannot quote all of it.
It is an old set of facts - usually it seems, of more interest to Brits! Unfortunately, I have had to be explaining at considerable length to the authorities and the university here that because each of several serious problems are being encountered by more of growing "batches" of the population since, in particular, 1974, such problems are now out of control.
"Urgency" is now the order of the day! - That sounds a little too much to expect in a country which has a "laissez-faire" or "lack-a-daisical" attitude to time on the clocks (especially those official ones - such as in Cadiz, which are still showing "British Summertime"! - or Spanish "Wintertime" of UTC+1).
The problems all-time related are: Traffic and Industrial Accident Statistics,
Schoolchildren and workers too dull in the morning, Residents not understanding that the sun is strongest at 2:30 pm in Cadiz - not 1:00pm!
Everyone in busuness establishments getting fat.
Cheers.

Have you been to Vigo? it has a lot of industry, plus there are other towns and areas which is industrialized. It is not all green fields up here you know!

Besides this getting obese thing is not limited to your part of Spain. It is happening all over the world too.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/7154395.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/obesity2.shtml

Lastsummer when we drove back to Britain through France we kept stopping for lunch at 2.00 pm as per usual and couldn´t understand why there seemed to be nothing left at the buffet tables in the restaurants until we twigged that the French eat a lot earlier than us. They also eat earlier in the evenings too and seem to close the bars at 10 pm. So glad to drive back through the Spanish border to "normality".

[QUOTE=crispy;6375089]Welcome to BE, I'm just down the road from you in Chiclana.

I understood what you were saying although at first I thought I wasn't going to and now I understand why I have put so much weight on since moving here.. We have our main meal about 2pm if we can but some days I am ready for it at 1pm. QUOTE]

Hallo crispy,
Pleased to find you so near - I expect that there are a few other britpeeps in the area - met nice lady in Cadiz (think the name was valery) who said she had a bar in chiclana?
Here is a snatch from Liz Parry on the subject:

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, who certainly do not appear to be malnourished (euphemism!), carry substantial snacks in their portfolios to devour during the first break. NOTE: 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). They are 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.

http://past-editions.surinenglish.co...php?Noticia=62

That is the URL for the whole article - note that she does not explain any of the times peeps eat in Spain - but all occasions are actually two hours before in true sunclock (realtime) time.
Cheers.

Hi Casa Santo Estevo!
Honestly, not trying to imply that Galicia is actually low in B,C & I - just that relatively things are really busy in pcia. Cadiz - and, after all, it was the "Diarios de Cadiz, Jerez y Sevilla" and "Viva-Cadiz" both headlining that Cadiz City and pcia. Cadiz were the worst for numbers and girths of youngsters. My point here is that it is not the fault of Cadiz parents - nor is it something strange in the diet suddenly appearing here, I maintain that the media are refraining from even suggesting that the two hours earlier lunchtime has some effect!
Will have more to write on the other disturbing factors in the time which are likely to affect progress in the future in Spain. (P.S. thanks for the beeb references - but I am constantly reading bbc.co.uk)
Cheerio.

Hallo Chiclanagir!
Very pleased to receive your interesting comments on life in France - because I have been wondering how they have been coping with double summertime! In theory, France doesn´t have the potential to "suffer" extreme conditions from the double summertime - except in Brittany in Winter - where they have more extreme Winter darkness in the mornings than in Galicia. France is not so far south nor, generally, so far west as Spain.
Nevertheless, you might be interested to know that there are forums on the internet in France which are discussing "Should France continue with double summertime?" (Google/yahoo search with heure été). I tried to find such on Spanish internet, but found difficulty to find discussion in Spanish!
Cheers.

New Craze in Andalucia? (Part 2 - but, please do read the comments to Part 1 in mid-May - although, please avoid the gerrymandering in Part 1)
.
My nosh-related start to "TIME, Gentlemen, Please" was just page 1 of 2 on that particular piece on the "Fattest in Andalucia" as "The Oracle" put it in the beginning of May.

More about nosh , particularly in SW / W / & NW Spain - (OK, folks in Galicia, the latter is only of potential concern in the future, getting more peeps to have lunch at 12:30 on the clock would bring you into neck-and-neck running on the quest of B,C & I!)

I request your indulgence, noshers , to finish what I wanted to say 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 was that Andalucia, as a unit, is number 4 in order of ”gross numbers and girth” of the overweight peeps in Spain !.

I can at least leave out the case of the Canaries – where the time on the clocks differs by one hour less to that in Spain, although still necessarily providing an extreme case because they are far to the west of their realtime 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 in the article for the whole of Andalucia, but since the previous reports in the actual pcia. 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 (those earlier reports did not mention the adults at all!). That currently could increase the importance of the ranking for Cadiz in Spain mentioned in the article (Cantabria and Murcia - remembering that 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 daily newspaper, to find the day´s sunrise and sunset times quoted in the marvellous Spanish clocktime (look for “Orca, Salida,etc” “Ocaso, Puesta, etc”). - Honestly, it´s possible to manage it without resorting to coping with Spanish, ´cos it´s usually found on a big map page, quite often near the end of the paper .

(Suggested exercise for neurones - bits of the brain not normally required for this purpose!)

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) – which you will confirm is about 14:00 to 14:30 pm in the “double summertime” on those clocks, the actual minutes you find more or less depends on how far west in Spain is your location!
(Another!)
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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 ?
.
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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! (To be spoken a la mode of Winston!)

.

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

Cheers - (My !)

I'm beginning to get a headache

You didn't actually read it did you?

Maybe a Google translation?

Don`t laugh, there is another similar thread.

I know, I have a migrane now

HI rugbymatt,
you had a subreference to your enjoyment factor (below the comment section) that mentioned coal - it made me think again - why has someone unknown described me as a rough diamond? (Fans of Scargill will remember that coal was described as black diamonds - when it used to have importance in the World!)

Back to the thread!

I just think it might interest someone to see just a part , of my recent submission to officials in Cadiz, Andalucia and the astronomers of the Official Timekeeper of Spain (the Marines Observatory, pcia. Cadiz ?).

It purports to explain the briefly-mentioned background properties of the Spanish time system - and how that relates to effects of actual mealtimes on nippers who have yet to attend school, etc., but who have meals with their parent(s).