iHOUR OF AMBIGUITY	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
i2024-10-27	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
iHere in my hotel room, high above Barcelona, I woke up. It was still dark	null	(FALSE)	0
ioutside, so I looked to my phone - sitting in its charging cradle - as a	null	(FALSE)	0
ibedside clock. It told me that the time was 02:30 (01:30 back home), and that	null	(FALSE)	0
ithe sun would rise at 07:17.	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
iBut how long would it be, until then?	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
iDaylight savings time is harmonised across Europe by EU Directive 2000/84/EC	null	(FALSE)	0
i(Why yes, I am the kind of nerd who didn't have to look that up. Why do you	null	(FALSE)	0
iask?), but for all the good this harmonisation achieves it does not perfectly	null	(FALSE)	0
iremove every ambiguity from questions like this. That it's 02:30 doesn't by	null	(FALSE)	0
iitself tell me whether or not tonight's daylight savings change has been	null	(FALSE)	0
iapplied!	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
iIt could be 00:30 UTC, and still half an hour until the clocks go back, or it	null	(FALSE)	0
icould be 01:30 UTC, and the clocks went back half an hour ago. I exist in the	null	(FALSE)	0
i"hour of uncertainty", a brief period that happens once every year (In places	null	(FALSE)	0
ithat observe a one-hour shift for summertime.). Right now, I don't know what	null	(FALSE)	0
itime it is.	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
iI remember when it first started to become commonplace to expect digital	null	(FALSE)	0
idevices to change their clocks twice a year on your behalf. You'd boot your PC	null	(FALSE)	0
ion a morning and it'd pop up a dialog box to let you know what it had done: a	null	(FALSE)	0
ihelpful affordance that existed primarily, I assume, to discourage you from	null	(FALSE)	0
imaking the exact same change yourself, duplicating the effort and multiplying	null	(FALSE)	0
ithe problem. Once, I stayed up late on last Saturday in March to see what	null	(FALSE)	0
ihappened if the computer was running at the time, and sure enough, the helpful	null	(FALSE)	0
ipopup appeared as the clocks leapt forward, skipping over sixty minutes in an	null	(FALSE)	0
iinstant, keeping them like leftovers to be gorged upon later.	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
iComputers don't do that for us anymore. They still change their clocks, but	null	(FALSE)	0
ithey do it silently, thanklessly, while we sleep, and we generally don't give	null	(FALSE)	0
iit a second thought.	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
iThat helpful dialog that computers used to have had a secondary purpose. Maybe	null	(FALSE)	0
iwe should bring it back. Not as a popup - heaven knows we've got enough of	null	(FALSE)	0
ithose - but just a subtle subtext at the bottom of the clock screens on our	null	(FALSE)	0
iphones. "Daylight savings: clock will change in 30 minutes" or "Daylight	null	(FALSE)	0
isavings: clock changed 30 minutes ago". Such a message could appear for, say,	null	(FALSE)	0
isix hours or so before and after our strange biannual ritual, and we might	null	(FALSE)	0
ifind ourselves more-aware as a result.	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
iOf course, I suppose I could have added UTC to my world clock. Collapsed the	null	(FALSE)	0
iwaveform. Dispelled the ambiguity. Or just allowed myself to doze off and let	null	(FALSE)	0
ithe unsleeping computers do their thing while I rested. But instead I typed	null	(FALSE)	0
ithis, watching as the clock reached 02:59 and then to 02:00. I'd started	null	(FALSE)	0
iwriting during summertime; I'd finished after it ended, a few minutes...	null	(FALSE)	0
iearlier?	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
iDaylight savings time remains a crazy concept.	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
iLINKS	null	(FALSE)	0
i	null	(FALSE)	0
hMy blog post about Daylight Saving in Ireland, which is a whole different kind of weird.	URL:https://danq.me/2021/05/11/ireland-timezone/	(FALSE)	0
.