Changing Times

March  20, 2025

I look forward to the annual ritual of “springing forward” as we turn our clocks ahead one hour to mark the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. Not only is it a sure sign that winter is ending, but for me personally, it also means that my internal clock more closely resembles the world around me. As I have gotten older, it seems that my internal clock has been running faster and faster. After Daylight Saving Time begins, I am usually awake before 7 AM. However, during the dark winter months, with Standard Time in use, I am often up before 6. In December, this means a long three-hour wait before the light of dawn.

I still recall when, in 1971, the government of Alberta adopted the practice of switching to Daylight Saving Time. I also remember the heated arguments between my farmer dad and his banker brother over the issue. My uncle was strongly in favor of the switch, as it would give him an extra hour to enjoy his golf game in the evening. Predictably, my dad was “agin it,” just as he was against many other reforms, progressive or not. In retrospect, a farmer pretty much sets his own hours, so I don’t think Dad had much of a case. And cows don’t generally care what the clock says anyway. As the years passed, Dad seemed to acquiesce to the semi-annual time change ritual. He found other political fish to fry, most notably campaigning against the adoption of the metric system.

There was a time, sometime in the 1980s, when Dad stopped changing his watch in the spring and fall. However, this was not an act of protest. Somehow, he had switched over to a digital watch, and for some reason, he was not able to adjust the time on it anymore. Not only did this mean that he couldn’t spring ahead or fall back, but the watch itself also ran a bit slow. So, Dad, being the pragmatist that he was, simply got in the habit of adding 17 minutes to the time shown on the watch during the winter and then adding an hour and 17 minutes during the summer. This went on until, I suspect, the watch quit working altogether. And that, to the best of my knowledge, was the only digital device Dad ever owned! My, how the times have changed!