Save the day(light)

Being in London during the summer was a complete shock to my system.  It was past 9pm and yet it was still light.  I was woken by the sun streaming through the curtains before 6am.  In Zimbabwe there is very little variation on when the sun rises and sets throughout the year - its pretty much 6am to 6pm and when the sun sets its completely dark, there is no lingering twilight.

The concept of Daylight Saving Time (DST) where clocks spring forward and fall back according to the seasons was introduced to New Zealand in 1927.  In the early hours of Sunday morning on 24th September the clocks will move forward by an hour.  This means that there will be more light in the evenings.

I think the best part about DST is that combined with the Equinox (the plane of earth's equator passes through the centre of the sun's disk so that day and night are of equal duration) which will be on Saturday 23rd September, this truly marks the start of Spring.  Here's too many long, sunny days after a cold and wet winter.  

Disclaimer - apologies if you live in the Northern Hemisphere but hey, you've had your share of sun, it's our turn now!