Well, we start another Monday. Today, my younger son has his last bike day, with one final test. The police department finished testing them last week for their bike safety, but today, it is the in-school test. I have my fingers crossed. Today is also the last good weather day for the week. Now this time, I do have more sources pointing to a snowfall here in Kempten by Wednesday or Thursday, but again I am not holding my breath. But if it does snow, you will be the first to see!
Yesterday was the start of the German end to Daylight Savings Time, so to answer the question for yesterday: Yes, Germany does observe Daylight Savings Time. On Sunday, March 30th, of this year, Germany began observing its Daylight Savings Time by moving ahead one hour. October 26th marked the end of that observance, and we fell back an hour just like the USA does when it ends Daylight Savings Time. We will again pick back up that hour next year on March 29th, 2009, and end it again on October 25th, 2009. What this means is that for the next week, we are only 5 hours ahead of you instead of 6. On Nov. 2nd, your clocks will also fall back an hour. Germany was the first European nation to adopt the time change starting in April of 1916. Now, all of the European Union adjusts at the same time, but this was not the case before 1996.
The US observes DST (Daylight Savings Time) on the 2nd Sunday in March and ends it on the 1st Sunday in November. In Germany, they observe it on the last Sunday in March and end it on the last Sunday of October. Until last year, there was only about a week difference between the two since the US used to observe it on the first Sunday of April lasting till the last Sunday in October, but it was increased by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to help conserve energy.
Over the history of standardized time in the US, this is not the only time DST has been adjusted. Although some attribute the idea to Benjamin Franklin, based on a letter he wrote while visiting in France, it was official proposed by an Englishman named William Willett in 1907 for the benefit of his golf game; however, it was not met with much interest. Originally in the US, the use of time zones was first practiced by the railroad companies. It was adopted as a law in the US along with DST, which had gained popularity in Europe, in 1918, and then dropped in 1919 (time zones stuck, however.) It made an appearance again in World War II, and then was used locally until 1966 when the Uniform Time Act was passed, with the option for states to not use it if they voted not to. The dates were set to the last Sunday in April and the last Sunday in October. It was adjusted significantly in 1974 and 1975 due to the energy crisis (starting as early as January!!) and then was shifted permanently in 1986 to be the 1st Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. It is not observed in Hawaii and most of Arizona.
Countries south of the equator also observe it, but during their summers, which is our winter. Australia has a variety of start dates across its own country, so at times portions of Australia are one hour ahead or behind other parts of Australia. Can you imagine if we had to keep up with which states observed when and what time it was there in relation to us? Wow - that would be confusing! Many countries at the equator do not observe it since their day is pretty consistent all year long. Generally, Africa, India and a large part of China do not observe DST, either.
The reason for DST was to adjust the clocks to give more daylight hours while people were awake. The sun comes up much earlier in the summer, but people are still sleeping at that time, so that daylight is "wasted". So to take advantage of the day hours, they adjust the clocks starting in spring and then move them back once the summer is past. (In England, they call this Summer Time.) It also has the added benefit on saving on electricity that requires lighting and some heating and cooling benefits, but those benefits are not entirely agreed upon. Nor are the touted affects on traffic, crime or people's health in relation to DST.
The question for today is "What is Spezi?"
The word for today is Time: die Zeit (tsite) or das Mal (mahl).
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
