[H-GEN] Brisbane's timezone

[Paul Gearon]

On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 2:00 PM, Raymond Smith <raymond at humbug.org.au> wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 07, 2008 at 04:30:44PM +1000, Res wrote:
>  > On Mon, 7 Apr 2008, Sarah Walters wrote:
>  > >I find this discussion incredibly frustrating, and I believe it shows
>  > >just how insulated SE Queensland is from the rest of the state.
>  >
>
> > Sarah, I whole, heartedly agree with your entire statement
>
>  Indeed - daylight savings supporters seem to delight in
>  denigrating the opposition based on the 'country bumpkin'
>  stereotype. It really is rather tiresome.

In retrospect, I'm concerned that my own email looks to be in that vein.

During the last trial (which I enjoyed), I will confess that it was a
little annoying at the same time. On weekends and university breaks I
was working on my family's wheat farm in western Qld. We were obliged
to continue starting at 7am (earlier during harvest), as businesses
like the wheat depot were open at the same time. However, the only
reason we ever knocked off was when light got too poor to continue
working. I didn't know any farmer who knocked off early just because
of daylight savings. It really did make for a long day. Overall
though, I liked it. Dad didn't.

>  It would be nice if both sides admitted it was all about
>  what suits their lifestyle best, and that what fits the
>  lifestyle best varies by location.

I definitely prefer DST due to my lifestyle, but I've also worked in
some offices where the difference created problems for them. With
branches in Brisbane and Sydney, these companies were taking advantage
of the similar timezones, but whenever DST came into NSW, they lost 2
hours per day when people were available in both offices (one hour at
the start/end of the day, and the other at the 1-2pm lunch that was
mandated). Perhaps it could/should be argued that these companies
could be more flexible with their hours, but Australian companies are
not renowned for "taking risks" like that (at least, few of the ones I
was associated with.  Can you see my cynacism?)  :-)

>  For my own part, I find that daylight savings offers *me*
>  no significant benefits but provides a great pain in the
>  arse when it comes to changing the clocks and adjusting
>  multi-timezone meetings. I am 'enjoying' Pacific Daylight
>  Time (UTC-7) right now.

I'm starting to enjoy it now, but having DST come in here during
winter was just weird. The sun wasn't up until 7:30am, and when you
had to trudge through a few inches of snow on top of that, it got
downright depressing.  :-)

Regards,
Paul
(who is taking full advantage of the "nothing is off-topic" nature of H-CHAT)