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By Kathy Michaels
For an hour and a half this morning my alarm clock and I battled.
It repeatedly demanded consciousness, I repeatedly toggled it back to silence and verbalized my desire to relocate to Saskatchewan. Not that I’ve ever been there, but between my lifelong crush on Tommy Douglas and the provincewide decision to not change the clock for Daylight Saving Time, it’s looking appealing.
This week I will be tired, grumpy and ineffective — more or less a zombie — trundling through all tasks presented with a bit more resentment than what’s customary and I know I’m not alone.
Case in point, today a particularly persnickety chihuahua refused his morning walk. Fully aware that there was a discrepancy between his internal clock and the time I was latching the lead to his collar, he stayed still, staring hatefully into the distance while I tugged. He won, and I found other tasks to do until he saw fit to stretch and amble into the light ready for his morning jaunt.
Expanding my zombie week theory beyond my home is an American report that showed the number of serious heart attacks goes up six-to-10 per cent on the first three workdays after the time change. Economists also say sleep-deprived traders often produce large negative returns on the first Monday — a figure once estimated at $31 billion. And finally ICBC has been filing out missives about the dangers of post DST driving all week, so you know fender benders are hurting their bottom line.
Seems like much ado over an hour, no?
Now, I realize there’s an energy saving argument made for this DST misery, and all my concerns about personal discomfort allegedly pale in comparison to saving that selfish Mother Earth, but there’s a way around it.
I propose that the first Monday, after the Sunday that marks Daylight Saving Time, be dubbed Zombie Day and it morph into a national holiday only Saskatchewan is exempt from.
After all, Zombies are chic and the feds seems to believe we can use another day of homage. Earlier this month during the Throne Speech they introduced Seniors Day and, well, what’s the point in that?
I’m sure after a recession that put many of them back to work or ate through their retirement funds, there were few who heard that news and said “hey, this is just what I needed — Seniors’ Day.”
No, let’s not add insult to injury.
Instead, let’s keep my relocation costs low for 2010 and see if we can get Zombie Day added to the calendar.
kathy@kelowna.com
2 Responses to “Kathy Michaels: DST getting you down? Lobby for Zombie Day”
Tags: Daylight Savings Time, DST, zombie day
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I just wish to advise Ms Michaels that the Province of Saskatchewan actually stays on DST the year round.
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I say DST doesn’t go far enough. With the sun coming up at 4am in summer we should be shifting by 3 hours not one.
Please continue discussion on the forum: link