Daylight Savings Time

Parts of the world just experienced daylight savings time; I sure miss that extra hour of sleep. Thank you William Willet. Or was it George Hudson. It might have even been Benjamin Franklin who first suggested this travesty against dreamers.

While Mr. Franklin is the one who first coined the phrase “Early to bed and early to rise…,” he never actually tried to implement the idea. It looks like old Ben is off the hook. In 1895, George Hudson, an English entomologist living in New Zealand, suggested the idea of daylight savings time to the Royal Society of New Zealand. His sole purpose in doing so was to have a couple extra hours to hunt bugs in the summer when the insects were active. His proposal was not well received. Thank you, New Zealand , for the reprieve. That brings us to William Willet. Beginning in 1907, he began lobbying for longer summer days, but by 1909 the British Parliament had decided to leave things as they were.

So, who do we point the finger at? While these men are credited with the idea, it took World War One to turn the idea into action. With longer days, civilians would use less coal to light and heat their homes leaving more for the war effort. In 1916, Germany and Austria-Hungary realized this, and by 1918, the United States and the United Kingdom had seen the logic in such a decision. See, war is bad.

If you are new to my blog, you are probably wondering where I am going with this. For those of you who visit on a regular basis, you know we should be getting to the point right about now.

When writing, always remember that time can affect your story. Maybe your story takes place in the spring and the loss of an hour of sleep throws your character off just enough to cause him to miss a vital clue. It could take place in the fall when the extra hour gives your character that extra time she needs to complete an important task. Remember, even Phileas Fogg benefited from traveling east in his 80 day trip around the world and gaining an extra day.

Just thought I would jot this down.