Tail End Charlie
Almost an April problem
Text: Jan Zdiarský
It's not entirely my fault that I’m writing my Tail End Charlie text at the last-minute again. I scheduled my work quite responsibly yesterday, Sunday, two days before the current issue was due out. However, somehow I didn't keep up at the end of the day. Understandably, I could blame my slow work, my tendency to run away from responsibilities, orstimuli that release the right hormones into my brain for the wrong mood, and a thousand other things rooted solely in my nature, irresponsibility, and laziness. But this time it's different my friends. THEY took an hour out of my day yesterday. And that's why I couldn't keep up. The change to daylight saving time caught me surprised almost as change of the Austro-Hungarian Empire railway schedule surprised Cimrman near the village of Stredoplky. I recommend our English-speaking readers to supplement their education by a proper search of the encyclopedic entry Jára Cimrman. You will learn where American, hence Austrian, self-confidence would be and with them Thomas Alva Edison or well I dare smuggle this word into my apolitical article- Nikola Tesla, if the world had discovered the brave Czech Cimrman a little earlier.
I'm a little out of scope, aren't I? However, since my colleagues and I have given ourselves pretty much free rein as to what may be the topic of our final reflections innthe Tail End Charlie column, I can allow myself to do so, and I trust you will forgive me for avoiding the technology and social issues.
In short, I missed an hour yesterday. With the time shift from winter to summer. It was taken from me by technocrats and foolish politicians sometime in 1916 and THEY won't give it back. Even though the idea of daylight saving time seems to be obsolete nowadays, the various cabals controlling the world, the Wall Street vampires and the European oligarchs who are guaranteed to benefit from it, still don't want to give it back to me (not referring to the clever Russian oligarchs, because there daylight saving time is no longer used).
The transition between daylight saving time and standard time is quite a chaotic all over the world, as if time zones were not enough. For example, the southern hemisphere doesn't use it, it was never introduced in most of Africa. In different parts of the northern hemisphere, the transition between winter and summer time occurs on different dates.
There are debates about to abolish these time shifts altogether. Whether their original reason is outdated or not. The European Union, for example, set out to abolish daylight saving time back in 2019... But since then its member states have still not agreed on how this should be done... Well, yeah...
Hopefully I'll live to see it someday, and so will my dog who doesn't understand why he suddenly has to start getting up an hour earlier or an hour later. The wolves that roam the woods around my homeland in the border mountains don't care. They wisely get up (or rather go to bed) according to the sun.
... à propos, do you actually know which of the two times is the correct, original one? Summer or winter? The summer/winter time switching is used in most of Europe. And also in the USA... Ah ... Did you know that of Europe, Greenland, for example, doesn't use it? I learned this a while ago when I was trying to clear up some of my ignorance, and I have to admit that there are things (and I write this without giving wise counsel) that finally make sense to me now.
I guess I'll have to put up with being as confused in my biological clock as I probably am in my head for some time to come. On top of that, it snowed again this morning. But let's not be sad. Spring is here anyway!