The problem with BST was all the clocks that had to be adjusted.
Years ago this was a proper chore. And you always seemed to forget some clocks, notably the one in the car. And perhaps the one by the bedside, so that there was a risk of your alarm going off one hour later than it should do. (Have I got that right? Switching from GMT to BST - or back - has always needed some clear thinking. Not necessarily my forte. Some concepts elude and confuse me)
That's how it used to be. It's much less trouble now. Most of one's electronic gadgets adjust themselves at 2.00am on the changeover day, with no intervention. Just like magic. Very convenient. So this morning, my phone, Fitbit, DAB radio and laptop were all showing BST.
I don't have a bedside clock now: my phone is my alarm clock, and my always-worn Fitbit gives me the time. My gas cooker in the kitchen doesn't have a timer, so nothing to do there.
Only three battery-powered wall clocks had to be attended to, in hall, lounge and bathroom. I remembered to adjust the central heating control (a little harder that; but I had the instructions handy), and I must deal with the clock in my car later on (Fiona is GPS-connected, and has DAB radio, but the dashboard clock doesn't pick up the correct time from those things).
Nothing to adjust in the caravan.
So that's it. Pretty painless!
Even though the national time went forward overnight, it didn't mean an earlier-than-usual leap out of bed. The current coronavirus lockdown ensures that there is no need to get up until the house is nicely warm (it's been very chilly at nights recently). I drifted back off to sleep, and woke again at '9.00am' - which is 8.00am GMT. For once, the arrival of BST has been a comfortable experience.
I suppose that with more and more gadgets and equipment becoming Internet-connected, there will be less and less to manually adjust. And all will be perfectly synchronised. One day the arrival of BST will be completely chore-free, as will the reversion to GMT in the winter.
Meanwhile, BST has bounced in a lovely spring day outside, marred only by a very keen whistling wind, and the fact that one must stay indoors most of the time, to avoid other people and escape infection.
Sunday 29 March 2020
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I was surprised to wake up to my FitBit showing the right time, as I thought it would only do that after refreshing on my smartphone. Isn't science wonderful?
ReplyDeleteAnd the one I forgot? The central heating time clock. Dear me, it was c-c-cold when I got up this morning.
I has just cost an eye watering price to upgrade the heating but at last I have an automatic clock change to adjust the wind up longcase clock to. Hang on, I am retired and at home all the time, why do I need to know the time?
DeleteOne place where it is handy to know the time, since I do loose track, is when working in the garden. It is wonderful out there again, in fact as quiet as it was in the village forty years ago when I first arrived and can now hear the church clock chime the hours without wondering how much was drowned out by almost constant traffic noise.