It's All Performance Art 6

Tonight we gain an extra hour of sleep, as at 2 am, Sunday, we set the clocks back one hour for standard time again. Apparently some ninety-three percent of British Columbians want to go on permanent daylight savings time, to avoid the experience of twice annual jetlag, and to enjoy a little more daylight on those dark winter afternoons. I do like the idea of no longer changing the clocks twice a year. But otherwise, I find the reasoning a little bit hare-brained, and this has been verified by a sleep expert I have heard interviewed twice in recent days on the radio. It appears that, if we were to go on permanent daylight savings time, the sun would not be rising till after nine in the morning in December, and this could make waking up even more difficult for people, plus contributing to collective seasonal depression for having to spend so much of the morning in the dark, plus, children would be walking to school in the dark. Even though rather larger children might be whining about losing an extra hour of daylight during the brief spring and summer nights, it wouldn't kill them to go to bed a bit early, since it really seems that permanent standard time would be the healthiest option. But most of us, it seems, are not very good at preferring things that are good for us. Say, if you look at how many people still smoke (and vape), drink excessive amounts of alcohol and live on fast food while not getting any exercise, you will know what I'm talking about. On the radio yesterday morning there was a woman being interviewed who insisted that SUV's ought to be the vehicle of choice, regardless of their excessive carbon footprint, because people are getting increasingly fat and obese and are no longer able to fit into regular cars. Uh-huh! We don't like what is good for us. What's with this thinking, or lack of thinking, anyway? This isn't to say that there aren't people around concerned with their health and fitness. Here in Vancouver, people jog everywhere (and can be particularly annoying to pedestrians and dog walkers), ride bikes (dressed in the most ridiculous spandex and lycra costumes while bellowing as though they are playing a hockey tournament), or pronouncing in tones shrill and self-righteous to others who do not share in common with them their virtuous vegan diet. As for me, I am going to celebrate my extra hour by doing a little extra, for example, I am going to bake a whole butternut squash, maybe read a bit later. Email some people I haven't heard from in a while, listen to music , and do lots of art. Or I might just go to sleep early, wake up early and enjoy an extra hour on the world.