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Summer Hours? Apparently
not...
IT'S not long now until the clocks
change, on 26 March 2017, heralding the start of summer, blue skies, light
evenings, and good times. But despite the extra daylight, it seems that the
average Brit is not looking forward to it, or automatically planning how he or
she is going to use those additional hours for fun. In fact, the majority of us
actually end up working even more than we do in winter! Online lighting
superstore, Scotlight Direct, surveyed 1,000 people to find out how we really
feel when the clocks go forward. And it turns out that, far from knocking off
early to take advantage of the sunshine, on average, Brits actually do an extra
2.04 hours of work. It seems that when it's lighter, later, we're more reluctant
to make a dash for the exit than if it was dark (when perhaps it would be harder
to see if we were sneaking out early...). In fact, less than a quarter of us say
we work less during summer hours. And 36% of us are not actually in favour of
Daylight Saving, for a whole host of reasons. The biggest bugbear we have is
that the mornings are darker. 48% of us resent having to get up when it's
practically pitch black, hoping to stay in our warm, snuggly bed and hibernate
some more. Then the fact that the sky is still pretty blue by the time it's our
usual bedtime means we don't actually feel tired, which then impacts on how much
sleep we get; over a quarter us loathe not feeling sleepy when it's time to go
to bed. And for those with kids, it's even worse! It's hard enough getting them
off at the best of times; 15% of us dislike that they're awake for longer,
causing even more mischief. And for the anti social amongst us, 6.5% resent
feeling pressure to go out and do stuff in the evenings. But despite our
strong feelings about it, not that many of us actually know the reasons why
Daylight Saving was actually introduced in the first place. Half of us believe
it was to do with farming (so farmers could do their work when it was light),
but only 22% of us know that it was introduced in WW1 in order to save fuel.
"It would seem that whilst many Brits love the start of BST, for obvious
reasons, the time change isn't always a good thing! Clearly there is a
link between the lighter evenings and the feeling of having to work longer
because of it. Sometimes a cosy evening inside with the family is what you crave
after a day at the office." says Andrew Fraser from Scotlight Direct.
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