Did you nudge your clock to spring forward?

By now, if you haven’t noticed, it’s already an hour later than you think, as clocks have been moved forward to Daylight Savings Time from Eastern Standard Time, in this annual ritual of adding more light to the day by delaying sunset and twilight time.

It might interest you to note that this idea, conceived by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, took another132 years to take hold, having been applied for the first time by France in 1916, in an effort to conserve energy and fuels used for supplying light after dark. Canada followed suit with its own adoption of the practice in 1918.

In 2006, legislation was amended to bring us in line with the American practice, and thus clocks now have to be moved forward on the second Saturday in March (for Daylight savings Time) and set back on the first Sunday in November (for a return to Eastern Standard Time).

Now if only it would stop snowing so that we could actually see the light at end of afternoon and beginning of early evening without having to shield our vision from the howling winds and drifting snow, sleet, freezing ‘whatever’ and snow-removing mighty machines blocking the landscape. But not to worry, it’s just a matter of time isn’t it? For, to paraphrase the poet, Shelley, ‘If winter comes (again, and again, and again) can spring be far behind?’ (J.F.)