Don’t forget to put your clocks back…

In the UK this year clocks go back by one hour at 1am on Sunday 26th October 2008. Love it or hate it, it’s an immutable event. The immediate upside is that you get an extra hour in bed, the immediate downside is that it’s dark earlier.

Daylight Saving Time

A survey recently conducted in London found that 60% of people didn’t want the clocks to go back – so why do we do it? The only people that seem to gain from it are farmers and people who work outside in the morning.   Some would argue that it’s good for the health – like the chap who initially championed the idea – William Willett when he suggested that we add 20 minutes to each Sunday in April as it would improve the nation’s health. (However, the nation’s patience would have been stretched to the limit had this been introduced)

It really came into effect in 1916 when we introduced Daylight Saving Time in the summer as it felt “prudent to economise, to promote greater efficiency in using daylight hours, and in the use of artificial lighting.”

So what to do about it all…?
Why not make the most out of the long nights drawing in? Pimms on the patio at 10pm is probably out, but a full bodied red (wine!!) by the crackle of an open fire is most defiantly in and this activity has got to be one of the finest ‘simple pleasures’ of life. Get the kids in bed, grab a good book and snuggle up by the fire after a walk on a crisp late Autumn afternoon. Have a search at cottages4you.co.uk, where you’ll find hundreds of fabulous cosy cottages with open fires.

Click here to search for cottages with open fires or woodburners>>

MW