This Sunday we will lament the loss of daylight saving. The clocks will be turned back an hour, formalising for many the end of summer sunshine and the advent of winter darkness.
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So what will happen come Sunday morning?
First things first, drop the 's'
Let's clear this up for good: It's "daylight saving time", not "daylight savings time". But that doesn't stop people from routinely adding the extra letter; a Google search of "daylight savings" returns 20.4 million results, while a search for "daylight saving" returns 17.2 million results.
We gain an hour's sleep! But ...
Rule of thumb is that for every hour of sleep you lose or gain, you'll need a full day to recover. That means the majority of us won't be feeling well-rested (if there is such a thing) until Tuesday morning ... or possibly next Sunday.
It's going to get dark ... really quickly
Mornings will be lighter, but afternoons will be darker. You'll take a look out the window and think, "Gee, it's dark already?" You'll then look at the clock. It will say 4pm.
What about bars?
It would be logical to think that bars would stay open an hour longer when the clocks fall back. Unfortunately many bars will have served last drinks well before the clocks change at 3am on Sunday.
Not-so-smart phones go haywire
Daylight saving does not only confuse cows and Queenslanders - Apple's iPhone has frequently had a hard time adjusting to daylight savings. First, recurring alarms get all mixed up, waking folks from their slumber either one hour later or one hour earlier than they were set for. The fix is particularly old school, with users advised to turn their phones off and on again to get the correct time update.
Running late, when you're actually early
Even with clocks that reset automatically on phones and other devices, people may think they're running late only to arrive at their destination an hour early. Yet, it may be wise to arrive at church for Easter mass this Sunday an hour early. Timeliness is next to godliness.
TV station moguls rejoice, we become couch potatoes
Gone is the extra hour of sunlight and gone is that extra hour of outdoor exercise. Hence, we're all inside and watching TV earlier. Well, that's the theory anyway.
We'll be just like Queenslanders
Yes, our friends in the north do not observe daylight saving. You see, their curtains might fade. Come Sunday, we will no longer be ahead of the Sunshine State. We may as well start eating pumpkin scones.
Disclaimer: This reporter hails from Queensland.
Daylight saving ends in Victoria at 3am on Sunday, April 5. Wind your clocks an hour back.
