When will the clocks be changed again?
When the first clock change of modern time calculation in 1980 was still something great that gave us seven months of summer, disillusionment quickly set in. There were no energy savings in lighting or heating, because during summer time it was light anyway and during winter time nothing had changed, only more chaos in any kind of timed documents such as timetables that had to be reprinted several times and the extra work for the people who had to climb up clock poles and church towers with ladders to change the little hands.
How menstruation is a story full of misunderstandings
Daylightsaving, which translates as saving or saving daylight, explains the paradox behind this 18th century invention. Every earlier attempt to impose daylight saving time failed due to popular resistance even before the time when every citizen could afford their own chronometer.
It was only because of the idea of the European Community, which fancy renamed itself 'Union' a few years ago to document its dichotomy, that radio-controlled clocks were invented at all. The abbreviation DCF77 is supposed to suggest that long-wave transmission has been around since 1977, but in fact it is a simplification of the frequency (77.5 kHz).
It is not surprising that no one had the idea to question this for over 30 years, because 'good things come to those who wait'. It was cleverly built on the fact that the population would be completely flabbergasted and would not even realise for the first few years that they were being taken for fools, and when EU junior J. C. Commissioner called into the merry circle of bureaucrats to hold a citizens' survey, whether the people wanted it at all because it had been proven to be of no use, the sitters agreed on the condition that the survey should not be binding and should not form any basis for decisions. Moreover, in order to rule out the possibility that, apart from doubts about the sense and seriousness, the rural population might participate, the survey was conducted online, and the top country with the incomparable digital pact came out on top. 85% voted for 'Yes, we want to keep the time change', 60% for 'No, we are against the abolition of the time change'.
What changes now?
Those who now rejoiced and believed that this would mean the end of clock changing on the last weekend in March and October had overlooked the small print. When the people's view was so clear after six months of voting (within CEST, of course), some countries were already threatening to overturn and sue the election procedure, as hardly anyone except in Germany had taken notice. The argument was already raging about whether to listen to the EU citizens or not. After all, the day is not an invention of the earth that revolves around itself and the sun, but a law that cannot simply be changed, especially not democratically. To avoid dividing the rest of Europe, which was so beautifully united after the Brexit vote, once again or even making it revolve around itself, each country should decide for itself whether it wants to keep summer or winter time. Of course, this is clever to strengthen confidence so that no one believes that the EU can make any decision.
So there may be another consultation in some countries on whether to introduce all-year-round time, and if so, what time; until then, the rule is: let summer into your heart and get up an hour earlier at the end of March, and only seven months later sleep longer for a useless hour that doesn't exist, when it's still dark in the morning anyway - but only on a Sunday, not the whole five months.