New time zone for Spain?

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Helen
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New time zone for Spain?

Post by Helen »

The Spanish government is considering changing its timezone as part of a programme to improve life/work balance

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... ck-an-hour
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Post by Webdoc »

The current Spanish day is already divided into 5 zones:

Breakfast-time, lunch-time, bed-time, supper-time and bed-time (again).
martyn94
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Re: New time zone for Spain?

Post by martyn94 »

Helen wrote:The Spanish government is considering changing its timezone as part of a programme to improve life/work balance

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... ck-an-hour
There has been a movement in Catalonia for years to address much the same issues simply by adjusting the working day, to shorten the breaks and so let people knock off at say 1800 rather than 2000. Their powers to enforce it may prove a bit sketchy: old habits die hard. Though I believe that many globalized firms already keep sensible hours.

It's amusing when I have Australian or US friends passing through on the way to Spain, who expect to have their napkin tucked in for dinner at 1900 sharp. It's surprising how many haven't done enough homework to know that that's three hours early.
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Post by russell »

Makes sense to me. In the summer in Madrid midday (sun at its highest) occurs at about 14:30. Why not get rid of this Summer/Winter time nonsense and just use the time zone closest to solar time?

Russell.
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Post by catllar »

Spain wouldn't be Spain without the long afternoon break - just as France wouldn't be France without the 2 hour break! It's these differences that make the difference, I reckon!
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Post by martyn94 »

catllar wrote:Spain wouldn't be Spain without the long afternoon break - just as France wouldn't be France without the 2 hour break! It's these differences that make the difference, I reckon!
it's fine if you don't actually live there, and can treat it as a sort of theme park every now and then.But it's less quaint if you have to fit work and family and leisure around it. Apparently the Spanish get about an hour's less kip per night than other Europeans, which can be seriously bad for you.
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Post by martyn94 »

russell wrote:Makes sense to me. In the summer in Madrid midday (sun at its highest) occurs at about 14:30 Why not get rid of this Summer/Winter time nonsense and just use the time zone closest to solar time?

Russell.
Because it would be sunset in Madrid today at about 1630 solar time, rather than 10 to six. You could of course compensate by starting on at work at say 0630, but I wouldn't hold my breath. And I wouldn't have welcomed the early-morning phone-calls from my Spanish colleagues, even when I was on U.K. time.
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Post by russell »

Because it would be sunset in Madrid today at about 1630 solar time, rather than 10 to six. You could of course compensate by starting on at work at say 0630, but I wouldn't hold my breath. And I wouldn't have welcomed the early-morning phone-calls from my Spanish colleagues, even when I was on U.K. time.
Nothing we can do with clocks can have any effect on the time sunset occurs nor for that matter on the length of the day. Daylight saving time is a fiction.

We let ourselves be ruled by the clocks. If people want to start work, or school, at a different time in summer vs. winter they don't need to change the clocks.

Russell.
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Post by martyn94 »

russell wrote:
Because it would be sunset in Madrid today at about 1630 solar time, rather than 10 to six. You could of course compensate by starting on at work at say 0630, but I wouldn't hold my breath. And I wouldn't have welcomed the early-morning phone-calls from my Spanish colleagues, even when I was on U.K. time.
Nothing we can do with clocks can have any effect on the time sunset occurs nor for that matter on the length of the day. Daylight saving time is a fiction.

We let ourselves be ruled by the clocks. If people want to start work, or school, at a different time in summer vs. winter they don't need to change the clocks.

Russell.
That's all true enough. But for practical purposes, it's helpful to have rules of thumb (the fancy word is "heuristics") which let us do everyday things without spending more intellectual energy than everyday things deserve.
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Post by catllar »

martyn94 wrote:
catllar wrote:Spain wouldn't be Spain without the long afternoon break - just as France wouldn't be France without the 2 hour break! It's these differences that make the difference, I reckon!
it's fine if you don't actually live there, and can treat it as a sort of theme park every now and then.But it's less quaint if you have to fit work and family and leisure around it. Apparently the Spanish get about an hour's less kip per night than other Europeans, which can be seriously bad for you.
The Spanish folk do seem to scrape by somehow and fit everything in. Where I am living at the moment nothing starts before 10am, closes again at about 13.30 and re-opens around 17.00 for a few more hours. It's not a theme park.
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