Do You Find Dark Mornings Depressing?

[Winter Warmer]

I am horrified that some MP's want to bring GMT+2 in and are having a discussion on it in december in the commons, its too light in the evening in June as it is imagine it not getting properly dark until near midnight :o

How the hell can you goto sleep and get up early for work if its bleedin light until 11 pm , it would just increase anti social behaviour it's bad enough as it is having noisy kids playing around in the summer, an extra hour of light would just increase anti social behaviour, what about all those poor people on shift work which by the way is increasing who cant sleep because of people shouting in their back garden until 11pm and not to mention it staying dark until midday in scotland in the winter.

Its a stupid idea beyond belief only supported by people who dont work and want to doss around until late at night and dont get up for work in the morning and stay in bed all morning.

anti social behaviour gets alot worse around this time of year where i am the teens love the dark as they can get away with alot more

[Guest]

anti social behaviour gets alot worse around this time of year where i am the teens love the dark as they can get away with alot more

That's nothing to do with the length of the day, we can't change the minutes of light/dark...

[Eugene]

anti social behaviour gets alot worse around this time of year where i am the teens love the dark as they can get away with alot more

What an absurd thing to say of course extra light in the summer increases anti social behaviour while this time of year darkess as well as colder wetter weather keeps it quieter on the streets, so where you live its dead when its light in June and the weather is nice warm and sunny yet in november its dark wet and cool the streets are alive with lots more noisy kids than summer, yeah right :lol:

Edited November 6, 2010 by Eugene

[Isolated Frost]

What an absurd thing to say of course extra light in the summer increases anti social behaviour while this time of year darkess as well as colder wetter weather keeps it quieter on the streets, so where you live its dead when its light in June and the weather is nice warm and sunny yet in november its dark wet and cool the streets are alive with lots more noisy kids than summer, yeah right :lol:

What. Anti-Social behaviour is way higher in darkness. They get away with it more as there is not as many people outside, as people feel safer on June nights than December nights.

It's not absurd at all, the fact that you are saying that he's wrong is absurd. Everywhere in the UK, there is more crime on the Dark Winter Nights than the Light Summer ones. Fact.

[Bottesford]

Absolutely it is worse in winter - the kids who you often see hanging out on the streets do it because their parents don't want them indoors. I've seen groups hanging around on freezing & soaking wet nights under bridge arches with nothing to do. I can assure you, walking past such groups is much much less intimidating in daylight than it is in darkness.

If nothing else, I know I prefer streets I walk in to be filled with happy people having fun than just hulks of clothes moving in the shadows quickly from A to B.

My good lady now doesn't go to her yoga class as the area doesn't feel safe after dark which is a real shame as she enjoys it.

All part of the many cutbacks on enjoyment this time of year brings sadly. Cabin fever being another which we're both starting to suffer a lot more this week!

[Isolated Frost]

Absolutely it is worse in winter - the kids who you often see hanging out on the streets do it because their parents don't want them indoors. I've seen groups hanging around on freezing & soaking wet nights under bridge arches with nothing to do. I can assure you, walking past such groups is much much less intimidating in daylight than it is in darkness.

If nothing else, I know I prefer streets I walk in to be filled with happy people having fun than just hulks of clothes moving in the shadows quickly from A to B.

My good lady now doesn't go to her yoga class as the area doesn't feel safe after dark which is a real shame as she enjoys it.

All part of the many cutbacks on enjoyment this time of year brings sadly. Cabin fever being another which we're both starting to suffer a lot more this week!

Exactly the same, alleyways near the river are packed with teens all night once the clocks go back, terrible disadvantage to putting them back.

[camperstron]

I love the short winter days. It's so cosy, there is nothing better than closing the curtains and getting a good fire blazing at 5pm! Sure, we all leave in the dark/get home in the dark but whether we have GMT/BST/any other variation we still have the same number of daylight hours. Dark mornings/early nights are part of winter and I love it. I also love it when we get into spring and you notice the days getting longer.

It's all good!

[Essan]

Absolutely it is worse in winter - the kids who you often see hanging out on the streets do it because their parents don't want them indoors.

And if we were in Alpha time it'd solve that problem!

Isn't it nice to think that all society's ills are down to our latitude and therefore not our fault at all. Slartibartfast has much to answer for. Meanwhile, when my granny is mugged I know it's simply because Britain isn't positioned further south and thus gets dark at night in winter

Of course, the same happens in Germany. Which is why they are campaigning to move to Beta (Ukranian) time. And if not, why not????????

[mackerel sky]

I'd prefer we just stayed on BST or even better extend it by an hour. My farmer friend won't ever agree with that, but I'd rather take the punishment first thing in the morning and feel some benefit, even if it just dusk driving home from work. Most people aren't drunk first thing either. I don't care about dark mornings, I don't imagine there is a great deal of anti-social behaviour related to teenagers occuring before lunchtime in anycase. But it would take a radical decision by government to even just keep it at BST, let alone extend it. And the conservatives are the friends of the landowners, and every farmer i've ever met is a Tory, so it will never happen. If it does, the ConDem government will find a way of changing shift patterns or something to remove further public sector jobs in a cynical way.

[Eabie]

I don't mind dark mornings at all. So no. It's nice to see the sun come up.

I do, however, hate dark evenings. Makes me feel like it's later than it really is.

[mackerel sky]

I don't mind dark mornings at all. So no. It's nice to see the sun come up.

I do, however, hate dark evenings. Makes me feel like it's later than it really is.

Agreed. Its much worse to be sitting in heavy traffic, in the dark trying to get home... when at the same time a month ago, the traffic was lighter and it wasn't dark.

[damianslaw]

Tomorrow morning will have that classic wintry dark foreboding element to it - with slate grey dark rain leaden skies and the strong winds adding to the gloomy feel - combined with it being a Monday morning, lets just say it will feel very depressing.

[laserguy]

Tomorrow morning will have that classic wintry dark foreboding element to it - with slate grey dark rain leaden skies and the strong winds adding to the gloomy feel - combined with it being a Monday morning, lets just say it will feel very depressing.

Excellent - that'll give me the incentive to be up and out and about early. No,really. Ah,those dismal,dreadful warm and sunny mornings of summer seem light years away now. I bet lots of folk on here think I'm some kind of wind-up merchant but that couldn't be more wrong!

[Bottesford]

Tomorrow morning will have that classic wintry dark foreboding element to it - with slate grey dark rain leaden skies and the strong winds adding to the gloomy feel - combined with it being a Monday morning, lets just say it will feel very depressing.

Yes it really really really does!! I'm about to cycle in that too. I can't wait.

Excellent - that'll give me the incentive to be up and out and about early. No,really. Ah,those dismal,dreadful warm and sunny mornings of summer seem light years away now. I bet lots of folk on here think I'm some kind of wind-up merchant but that couldn't be more wrong!

Wind up - no; completely crackers - yes!

[towbar0]

This really depresses me. :diablo: :diablo:

1. People are half asleep in the morning. Dark mornings make it worse.

2. This was tried in the 70's and found to be a disaster. How short do peoples memories have to be?

3. Accidents in the dark evenings are balenced out by safer mornings.

4. Its not just the Scot who prefer GMT. What about those west of Reading?

On a pesonal note, what's wrong with keeping GMT all year, just get up ealier when it feels right? Anyone heard of flexible working or even working from home/car whatever. Discuss it with management if need be.

[Mondy]

'Nowt wrong with dark mornings - woken up to them for 20 years [for work]

[Summer of 95]

Hi folks. BST throught the winter in my neck of the woods would mean the sun wouldn't rise until 10am in late December - no thank you! There's quite a difference in sun rise/set time along the length of Britain so it would be difficult to keep everyone happy without different time zones.

I appreciate road safety is a very important matter, but I think it's hardly grounds to play around with GMT for the whole of Britain - leave the clocks alone!!

What might work as a compromise would be if BST were extended to run from say early February to late November so that the morning weren't just so dark here up north - just and idea.

It's always seemed unbalanced to me that we put them over a month after the autunn equinox, but wait until a week after the spring one to put them forward again. On GMT at the end of October sunset here is about 4.45pm- which is the same as at the beginning of February, nearly two months before they go forward. Sunrise lags a bit more, with the late Oct time of just after 7am corresponding to the second half of Feb. So if we can't have year-round BST, the second Sunday in February seems a reasonable date for clocks forward, with Valentines day marking the start of the light evenings (please never another Easter on GMT like in 2008!). The 6am sunrises in mid-March are easily the biggest waste of daylight this country suffers.

If we introduce double summertime, it needs to be accompanied by a re-jigging of the school year IMO- since I was about 12 I've thought that it's daft to have all of June in termtime, when kids can safely be outside till 10pm and it's not dark enough to get to sleep till 11, yet break up just as the nights start drawing in. And why not do exams in December, keeping all that revision for dark cold wet evenings instead of balmy light May and June ones when you want to be outside.

[Bottesford]

This really depresses me. :diablo: :diablo:

1. People are half asleep in the morning. Dark mornings make it worse.

2. This was tried in the 70's and found to be a disaster. How short do peoples memories have to be?

3. Accidents in the dark evenings are balenced out by safer mornings.

4. Its not just the Scot who prefer GMT. What about those west of Reading?

On a pesonal note, what's wrong with keeping GMT all year, just get up ealier when it feels right? Anyone heard of flexible working or even working from home/car whatever. Discuss it with management if need be.

Responding to point 1 - Some are more alert in the mornings, others in the afternoon so no different really... But, at least on my commute, it is much busier during the evening rush hour as you've also got students/everyone else in addition to commuters who won't be around for the morning (since they're still in bed perhaps...). The big problem is the sudden change when the clock moves rather than a slow creep of darkness. Very confusing. Accidents & traffic chaos is definitely worse here during the evenings by a fair way. Daylight for longer would definitely help.

GMT all year - well no as it is too culturally ingrained that things 'happen' at a certain time... i.e. the 9pm 'watershed', dinner around 7pm, bed around 11pm, no one going into clubs until nearly midnight, etc. Like how the Spanish don't eat till 9pm... I agree we *should* work around the sun better but it's just easier to pretend by moving the clocks!

<snip> The 6am sunrises in mid-March are easily the biggest waste of daylight this country suffers.

If we introduce double summertime, it needs ...<snip>

Agree with all that 100%!

[Essan]

It's always seemed unbalanced to me that we put them over a month after the autunn equinox, but wait until a week after the spring one to put them forward again.

I agree. But to balance out we should put that clocks back at the end of September.

We'd then get an extra month of lighter mornings for those of us who don't use 3 alarm clocks to wake us at 11am, whilst the problem with the sudden switch to darkness for the evening rush hour would not happen - at the end of September it'd still be light at 6pm, and the change to darker evenings would then occur more slowly and naturally.

Maybe that's all the change we need make?

[Bottesford]

I agree. But to balance out we should put that clocks back at the end of September.

We'd then get an extra month of lighter mornings for those of us who don't use 3 alarm clocks to wake us at 11am, whilst the problem with the sudden switch to darkness for the evening rush hour would not happen - at the end of September it'd still be light at 6pm, and the change to darker evenings would then occur more slowly and naturally.

Maybe that's all the change we need make?

No thanks! That means (for here) sunset by 1744 by end of September and sunrise 6am. That would add a whole month to me going home in darkness (since by half 5 it'd be mostly dark and would only be a matter of a week until it actually was completely dark at that time) which would be horrendous and still the change occur during the evening rush hour. Anything that increases the number of days I'm have to cycle in rush hour in darkness would not be welcomed by me.

Also, I would suggest there are more people awake and doing things at 6pm than 6am - and no not just people who lie in till lunchtime!

Either way you look at it - *most* people's day (barring the really early to bed, early to rise crew) is skewed where the middle of the day is more like 2-3pm and not 12 noon.

[Summer of 95]

I agree. But to balance out we should put that clocks back at the end of September.

We'd then get an extra month of lighter mornings for those of us who don't use 3 alarm clocks to wake us at 11am, whilst the problem with the sudden switch to darkness for the evening rush hour would not happen - at the end of September it'd still be light at 6pm, and the change to darker evenings would then occur more slowly and naturally.

Maybe that's all the change we need make?

What a waste it would be to put them back at the end of September- it can still hit 21C around then and to have that and then sunset before 6- just wrong.

There is a good point however about the sudden onset of dark evening rush hours, but I'd still prefer to keep sunset post-6pm as much as possible, including through October. And certainly from mid-Feb onwards, when it would be after 6pm on BST. Lighter mornings; there is a case for avoiding sunrise after 9am to be sure, but it's over the top to say that only people who like to get up at 11 want the BST all year. Even getting up at 8 it's impossible to see those 6am March sunrises and not think "What a waste of sunshine".

[Essan]

What a waste it would be to put them back at the end of September- it can still hit 21C around then and to have that and then sunset before 6- just wrong.

Er, totally natural!

How do we identify the equinox? because the sun rises and sets at 6.00am/6.00pm

Been that was since you were a little slimey thing in a pool of mud ....

Mind if we're going down the road of changing stuff, why does it stay so light in summer when it's too hot and the light is wasted and we can't get to sleep? Why not have longer nights then (which would cool things off better) and longer evenings in winter so we go enjoy being outside - and much more useful if having a hard day on the hill in the snow if you don't need to be down by 4.00pm! :lol:

[Milhouse]

Er, totally natural!

How do we identify the equinox? because the sun rises and sets at 6.00am/6.00pm

Been that was since you were a little slimey thing in a pool of mud ....

Mind if we're going down the road of changing stuff, why does it stay so light in summer when it's too hot and the light is wasted and we can't get to sleep? Why not have longer nights then (which would cool things off better) and longer evenings in winter so we go enjoy being outside - and much more useful if having a hard day on the hill in the snow if you don't need to be down by 4.00pm! :lol:

Enjoy being outside in winter? Not if its anything like its been today. An extra hour of daylight in the evening would be nice though on those rare pleasant mid winter days.

[Turnedoutniceagain]

'Nowt wrong with dark mornings - woken up to them for 20 years [for work]

Me too Mondy. It's the wet ones that depress me !!

[Essan]

Enjoy being outside in winter? Not if its anything like its been today. An extra hour of daylight in the evening would be nice though on those rare pleasant mid winter days.

Well down here today it's been a gorgeous day: clear skies, light winds and not too warm for outdoor activities. Absolutely perfect walking weather