Dear LPG,

Are you one of those pensioners who will get up tomorrow to discover that some of the clocks in your house are an hour out?   They announce it every year on the news and the internet, but so many of us forget once there is no need to be at work at a certain time every day.

If you are one of those pensioners that have a collection of smart things around the house you will be at an advantage because they will most likely change all by themselves thanks to the internet.  You will have no problems with your electronic personal assistants.  If you have an Amazon Echo, Google Assistant or one of the other gadgets that turn things on and off and talks to you, you can rely on them to still do what they do at the new version of ‘on time’.  Our mobile phones will switch by themselves as long as they are on the internet, our smart watches will be fine too and we are very unlikely to miss any television programs that are already set to pre-record because the smart TVs and the smart boxes of today will adjust to the time change automatically, but remember your oven and microwave if you are used to pre-setting them to start cooking during the day, and your clocks and watches that still depend on mechanical action. 

Perhaps I should remind readers that if you have something to do tomorrow this is the time of year when you are likely to be an hour late.  I know, because I found myself an hour behind everyone else nearly a week after it happened last year, and even though for most pensioners will not make much difference, church attendance often suffers on that last Sunday morning in March each year, if we are all allowed to return by then.

We know that it happens every year and by now it is just a part of everyday life, but did you know that it was only 104 years ago, halfway through World War 1 that it happened for the first time. I found it interesting that, Benjamin Franklin first mentioned the idea in 1784, and William Willett pushed the notion in 1907, but the Germans implemented it over there one month before we did.

I found some interesting facts about the practice that might help remind those who so forget to remember that they will either be starved of an hours sleep tonight or get up an hour later tomorrow morning. 

GN, Bromley

GN shares a few facts on the subject…

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