Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Vote YES for daylight savings

Quite frankly, I'm getting sick of having to be in at the office at 6.00am for a teleconference with my Eastern States colleagues in summer.

It peeves me no end that I'm usually well and truly tucked up in bed when my Melbourne mates are welcoming in the new year... especially when they call me.

And I get really, really cranky when darkness falls over Perth just when you think it'd be a great idea to get out and enjoy a balmy summer evening.

Come on Perth, wake up and smell the sunshine! We live in a state that enjoys the best climate in - dare I say it - the world and here we are shutting up shop, pulling down the shutters and hiding ourselves away in small dark holes one hour earlier than the rest of the country.

Oh, sorry... Queensland is also yet to embrace daylight savings. Gee, aint it just super that we've got the banana benders on our side - didn't they reprieve prohibition laws just last year?

Maybe if we introduced daylight savings we could start eating at more reasonable hours too. Perth is the only place I know where there is a culture of hitting restaurants on the dot of 6.00pm and washing down the last forkfull of tiramasui with the last drop of Black Tower (possibly Blue Nun) before the clock hits 7.30pm.

In the Eastern States eating at 6.00pm is considered a late lunch. But that's the thing about Perth, everything starts early and finishes early AND you can't go shopping on a Sunday. God knows it's only been in recent years that we haven't had to look up our nearest 'roster' petrol station to buy fuel after hours.

I reckon that if I live in a state with the highest property prices, rental costs on a par with New York, trading hours tighter than a fish's sphinctre and traffic lights that never change (more on this later), then I deserve an extra hour of sunlight during summer.

Of course I know that the curtains will fade and the cows won't know when it's milking time, but we can live with that. Yes, I know the kids can't get to sleep because it's still light, but here's a tip - buy yourself some of those heavy, non-fadable curtains and the little ones will never know! Besides, when it's 48 degrees, who's sleeping anyway!

So, make your mark - vote now and vote often! YES to daylight savings in WA.

Pass it on to as many friends as you can.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

why should I? Don't it just mean I gotta get up earlier?

Anonymous said...

Over it, another article please!!!

Anonymous said...

Man what are you doing in bed at 9pm on New Years eve, Melb is 3 hours ahead - so at midnight its only 9pm over here .... It's probably you ringing your Melbourne friends at 3am Melb time and annoying them that's got you all confused. Never mind.

Anonymous said...

Having moved from South Australia where daylights savings is a norm, I find it hard to sympathise with those who are against daylight savings?
To all who wish to vote 'no' I ask you this:- is your lifestyle- genuinely- compromised because you get to enjoy an extra hour of sunlight in the afternoon as well as being spared the inconvenince of having to call the eastern states earlier to save them inconvenices; OR, are you just that scared of change that you would rather say no to having daylight savings just like you refused the idea of having shops open on Sundays?

Anonymous said...

The old chestnut about fading curtains & cows not milking give all a really good giggle. But seriously, I have enjoyed daylight savings in many countries & also for years in the Eastern states, the amount of daylight that is available after 7pm over East is very welcome. In WA, (without changing the time)the amount of sunlight is very compareable with the East when they change their clocks to enjoy what we have normally! To have daylight at 9:00 to 9:30 PM is just abnormal, I would rather have my children in bed at a reasonable hour (when it is dark!), rather than putting them into bed when the sun is beaming into their rooms!!! I know that this is the wrong forum for these views, but for approx 90% (canvassed from websites, radio, TV, and work colleagues) of the WA population so far, daylight savings has not been what the public really feels is either necessary or wanted. If people from South Eastern States feel that they need to communicate with WA or(to be more specific) most of the Asian commercial centres, then they should get up an hour or so earlier!! Not expect that everyone else should have to stay up later and disrupt an entire state!! Way to go Queensland, stick to your guns and uphold your way of life, don't let the southern eastern states dictate what your way of life should be. In 2 years & 11 months, this abberation in WA will be voted out & we can all get back to normality!!!

Unknown said...

I really hope that it gets through this year. fingers crossed!!