When 6 AM Becomes 5 AM

When I lived in Perth, I was astounded by the hostility related to daylight savings time.  I couldn't believe that people would object, let alone so vehemently, to an extra hour of sunshine in the evening, après work.  This morning, as I'm force feeding myself coffee, fighting bouts of exhaustion nausea, and trying to keep my eyes open, I finally get it.  Perth locals may not have been protesting the extra hour of daylight, they may have been rejecting losing the hour of sleep when the clocks changed over.  

Today's mantra will be short term pain for long term gain.  Or maybe I'll just pretend that I hopped on an airplane to someplace hot and lost an hour due to a geography related time change.  That's always easier to stomach.  Especially when March in the UK was colder than December, January and February for the first time since 1975.

Happy March 27th

Please excuse me while I go put on this

and these

to go out in the multiple inches of snow that fell overnight.

This week in Doha, it's forecast to be a high of 95° and a low of 68°.  In Perth, it's forecast to be a high of 88° and low of 59°.   In both places, the forecast is showing unrestricted sunshine.

And here?  We're showing a high of 45° and a low of 30° with snow showers/rain all week.

While I don't regret moving here for a second, today I really wish that I could be relaxing on the beach in Australia, or even compound poolside in Qatar, instead of trudging through the snow.  One day I am going to get myself a pair of snowshoes to get around town here; in the meantime, I'll be browsing for a hot vacation destination ASAP.

Just Say No to Daylight Savings???

In case you were wondering, Western Australia will not be turning its clocks back an hour tonight.  The referendum to introduce daylight savings to Western Australia was proposed and rejected four times, in 1975, 1984, 1992, and 2009.  Lengthy papers exist on the case against introducing daylights savings to Western Australia.  I'm honestly a bit taken aback by how strongly people feel about this.  Facebook groups exist for "Perth People Who HATE Daylight Savings" as well as "Perth People Who Love Daylight Savings."  Who would have thought it would be problematic to have an extra hour of sunlight in the evening?  I would much prefer it to my 5:00AM wake-up courtesy of the sun streaming in brightly through my shut blinds.  As much as I hate to say it, I miss something else about Doha: the blackout curtains.