Ah you Southerners!
Being a Scot living on the South Coast I can possibly see both sides of the argument and tell you there isn't a happy solution. If there was we'd all be doing it.
The amount of available daylight at any given time of the year varies depending on how far north you live. In winter there is far less daylight in the north, and in the summer there is far more. Land of the midnight sun and all that.
Changing the clocks does not change the amount of available daylight in any 24 cycle. It only alters the time at which it is available.
Putting the clocks back in October means it gets light one hour earlier in the morning. In Southern England that may not mean much but when you are walking to school, doing a paper round, commuting to work or starting work on a building site anywhere north of Manchester believe me it does.
The Tooth Fairy and I, both brought up in Scotland, well remember the years they experimented with not changing the clocks. Kids were decked out with florescent clothes to wear getting to school, and in mid winter if it was the usual dull day it didn't get properly light until 10.00am in the far north. Its not a good way to start the day. By the time you get out of school, work or whatever and get home its still dark anyway so what have you gained?
Of course changing the clocks means you lose an hour's daylight in the evening and some would argue that's just as bad so there is no happy medium.
If people suffer from SAD they should try living through a Scottish winter. It probably explains why we are so miserable!
Living down here I really don't miss the dark mornings in winter but I do miss the super long evenings in Summer, but unless we rotate the country there's not much that can be done.
I await the flurry of responses!
Cheers Graham
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