Daylight savings time

Last Sunday we had the summer time change (also called "daylight savings time"). The first thing I did in the morning was to go through all the clocks I have in the house to turn them forward one hour, happy for what that means; one more hour of sunlight in the evening, and cycling home when it's still daylight after finishing my working day.

Some other people, like my friend Angela, feel very strongly against the time change. She says she doesn't mind so much the summer change -even if it means she has to get up one hour earlier- but she really hates the winter change, when it makes days become "shorter". She says she finds these changes very disorienting and for the first few days she feels more tired, as if she was jet-lagged.

I agree with her that the winter change is not as nice, but to me it is another manifestation of the seasons, it's one more of the processes that we have to go through every year: spring, more light, winter, shorter days. It is like a ritual that we have, and I find it endearing (entrañable) when the Saturday before the change everybody is commenting it: "Remember, tonight we have to turn back/forward the clock" And all the conversations and even the confusion that it brings: "do we have to change the clocks back or forward?" "So does that mean we have to get up earlier or later?" "Do we get one more hour, or do we lose one hour?"

For some reason it always reminds me of one occasion when I was about fifteen or sixteen years old and I was meeting my friend Ana, who was also my neighbour, to go to El Rastro on a Sunday. I rang her intercom (telefonillo) one hour earlier: "No, it's not eleven yet... last night was the time change! hahaha... " And I had to go back home and wait for an hour.

So I feel kind of sad that it has been decided that by 2021 every European country must make their decision on what time they want, summer or winter, and stay there forever. Apparently there was consultation of the public last year that showed that 84 percent were against changing the clock... Really??

And you; how do you feel about the time change?