BST - Two times at different times?

[bloodline]

The BST changeover happens at 1am on the last Sunday of the Month... if you have a high powered meeting at that precise time... change jobs! :-)
If the person you are having the meeting with hasn't taken in to account the BST change over... DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH THEM! :-D

What we celebrate as Christmas, was originally the ancient pagan festival of mid winter that was held on the winter solstice (shortest day, actually the 22nd of December). It's a Northern Hemisphere thing.

Countries in the Southern hemisphere, do indeed celebrate Christmas in the middle of their summer.

White Christmas is a largely a Victorian idea (Read up about a "Christmas Carol"). During the Victorian period Britain experienced a period of very cold winters where it did snow at Christmas time. Now things have returned to normal it rarely snows at Christmas... and more often than not, it snows in January, if it snows at all. Also check out the Julien/Gregorian calendar switch over to explain the celebration date moving and the change in weather at Christmas :-)

If i wasn't for Charles Dickens the celebration of Christmas would probably have died out in the UK. When Britain became a republic with Oliver Cromwell, the festival was banned, and although it was restored with the restoration of the Monarchy, it was never very popular... Until Dickens of course, only a hundred an 150 years ago or so :-)

[bloodline]

Hodgkinson wrote:

DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH THEM!

Thats one way around the problem!
(When I was talking about meetings, I was suggesting a situation where this might just happen...Fortunately im a 6th form student; and up to press; I've never had to do anything like this...yet...:-D

And never shall you :-) Honestly, no one ever arranges a meeting at 1am on a Sunday morning... Unless you plan a career that doesn't quite comply with the law...

hasn't taken in to account the BST change over

I wonder if anyone has ever had this happen to them. Hmmm, what about transport time tables? I mean, surely they can't afford to cancel all flights for an hour just because of the time switchover? :crazy:

You always work to ZULU time for flights so such a situation can never occur :-)

Countries in the Southern hemisphere, do indeed celebrate Christmas in the middle of their summer

Now that is intresting. I figured that that might be the case. So there summer is in December?

Hodgkinson.

Yes, their summer is in December... if you know anyone from Sought Africa or Australia (or New Zealand), they come back from their Christmas holidays with a sun tan :-)

[bloodline]

You might find this interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time

[bloodline]

Hodgkinson wrote:

You always work to ZULU time for flights so such a situation can never occur

True (Come to think of it us radio hams use GMT for logs...), but what about your average train and bus time tables? I’m pretty sure that the average public will expect these to be printed in accordance with BST.
At least in a timetable these times could be printed with a big thick black line stating the time changeover, but what about displays such as those found at train stations and airports?

TBH, I don’t use trains and busses that much, hence the question – Purely out of interest.

Hodgkinson.

Busses and Trains don't usually run at 1am on a Sunday night... anything that does, works on the the old time until close of business, then when it restarts will use the new time, because it is exactly an Hour offset, nothing really changes.

[bloodline]

Hodgkinson wrote:
Sounds like im  :horse: then.

Thanks for the info. Now i've brought this topic up im going to wind up in this situation one day for sure...

Hodgkinson.

Well if you do find yourself in such a terrifying situation... remember this simple rule... "Think one hour forward or one hour back" (obviously depending on the year), it can be tricky to master so you might want to practice tonight ;-)

[bloodline]

yes celia is quite right, one shouldn't forget the US contribution which pretty much established the lore and tradition we now accept as Xmas! Suffice to say, Xmas is really a very new festival :-)