October 30, 2004

Horse 216 - Daylight Wasting Time

Apart from the fact that it fades the curtains, confuses cows, and means that I now leave for work in the dark in the morning, I for one do not like Daylight Savings Time. It isn't because of the above but for the most shocking things of all... change in timezones.

For the next 4 months, Australia goes from being +10GMT to +11GMT, now what this means in real terms is that the 3pm game instead of starting at midnight, now begins at 2am. Now I don't know about you but I for one don't see why the government should impose a law which decrees that I get less sleep.

The other reason why I hate daylight savings, is the bizarre set of timezones imposed on the country.

+11:00 - NSW, Vic & Tas
+10:30 - SA
+10:00 - Qld (because they aren't on it)
+09:30 - NT (they aren't on it either)
+08:00 - WA (and neither are they)

Not only does 5 timezones confuse the heck out of everyone but to make matters worse, there are flights from Perth to Sydney that take 5 hours and leave Perth at 11pm local time. 23+5+2=30 or 06:00am the next morning. The flight is called the "Red Eye" and if you've just lost a night's sleep (again imposed by government regulation) then no wonder you'd be irritable at the whole affair.

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