Time Change in Europe Tonight

I was curious about how they change Big Ben, so I looked it up once. They stop the chimes between 2100 and 0200 and use this time to inspect the mechanism before moving the hands. They turn off the lights in the dial so that it is not obvious when the hands are moved and restarted (they don't actually go backwards). This is the site I used: http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/big-ben/inside-clock-tower/timechangeweekend/

Your post shows October 28th but just so there's no confusion, it's actually tonight (Saturday, Oct 29) that we turn the clocks back. If you want to get technical, sure, it's actually supposed to be the 30th but I doubt many of us here in Europe will be awake at 1am.

Countries in Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Mexico change this weekend. Canada, the US, the rest of Mexico, and parts of the Caribbean change next weekend (Nov. 6) Here is a list of the precise dates and times (in local time): http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/events.html

Do they change in London? What about Big Ben? Do people stay up till 2am to see it run backward?

Yes, we do change in London tonight. No idea when Big Ben's hands move backward, maybe someone reading is staying in London and wants to sit up all night in Parliament Square to see. Though that might get you in trouble with BoJo. :-)

It is Monday morning and I just gained an hour!!!! We arrived in Fulda, Germany Friday at noon and jet lagged as usual and sleep patterns were affected for a few days. Just turned on the TV and saw the correct time on CNBC!! Guess my husband was an hour early teaching his class today. Thanks Jo....should have checked this site sooner. I knew there would be a change but didn't realize it was this past weekend. BTW....love being back in Germany for the next 4 weeks.

So how do they change they change the clock at the Greenwich observatory, since that's supposed to be the one that sets the time for all other clocks?

The Greenwich Observatory measures Universal Time (UTC). UTC doesn't observe daylight savings.

What Schneider said is only true for alternate years. During the intervening years, the ghost of Harrison sneaks out while the Longitude Board has nodded off and beats back the big hand with a rusty quadrant.

I was in Montbard on an October Sunday several years ago, thinking that I should ask when the time change would occur. I did not quite get around to it. Consequently, I was at the train station at 4:45 Monday morning for a 6:23 train. Maybe I was depending on hotel clerks to alert guests, as a Brussels clerk once did. He made a drawing of two clocks, with the hands set an hour apart and the different dates below each face. Cute!

In the news in Scotland todaythe UK is thinking of just staying on daylight savings time and a group of Scots want to rebel and have a "Scottish Time Zone." You wouldn't get daylight until 9 AM if this happens. Can you imagine the insanity of one time zone in Carlisle and another in Gretna Green and Glasgow? Crazy Scotsman neanderthal commenters don't see anything wrong with two time zones on a small island. Ah, they will learn if they do this and drive tourists mad in the meantime. ; ) Pam

Yeah, how crazy is that? Its almost as crazy as slicing off the tip of Texas and making that different from the rest of the state. Or some crazy folk say that whole states might not play along with the rest of the US and not even do DST? Oh wait a minute. That already happened!! Doh!

Seriously - After the change yesterday it is now pitch black well before 5pm, and will get worse for nearly 8 more weeks. Wouldn't it be better to keep a bit of light for the evening rush hour and kids going home from school? Even after the change it is still dark in the morning anyway. If the Scots want it different from England, let them. Scotland is now under the control of the SNP whose stated goal is independence. Sometimes they just do things to be difficult. If they want to break away, let them. Considerably more money flows north than south so Scotland can have their independence and England will save money for itself. Bet it won't happen - the 2 zones - but the trial of using European time has been gaining quite a lot of momentum.

Nigel, I couldn't agree more. And why shouldn't Scotland have a different time zone if that's what they want? After all, Canada and the US have different time zones across the country.

Lots of states in the US are divided between two time zones. Look at Oregon, with a wee little slice in the eastern edge sitting in Mountain Time instead of Pacific. And then there is Arizona, which does not observe Daylight Savings Time . . . But the Navajo nation does. Talk about driving tourists crazy.

Yes Lola, isn't that Oregon thing weird, but need to keep them on Boise time! In Idaho we are 2 time zones, but the line runs horizontally across the panhandle of the state, so the South part is Mountain time and the N. part is Pacific time. I'm on Pacific and am East of the bit of Oregon on Mountain. Pam

@ Crash - I am not German, I am American and thus know what the word gift means in English. Besides, is there anywhere in the world where poison shops exist? What an odd thing to even suggest.

Okay, you are all proving my point about the idiocy of multiple time zones unless they are absolutely necessary! The UK is about 600 miles in length and Texas is 800 miles in width, 33% bigger! Nigel, I agree that the SNP is doing crazy stuff. Most of my friends in Scotland really aren't interested in independence, but they do like to yank your chain as we say here in US. ; ) So, in the south, the argument for permanent DST is so students can walk home in the light, but in the north the arguments against permanent DST is the concern about children going to school in the dark. My own view is that kids in Alaska do it all the time, so just deal. But no matter what, the UK really needs to work together on this and be sensible. BTW I saw an article in the Scotsman that said that Scotland would wealthy if they could just stop paying the dole for all those Sassenachs. ; ) Pam

(who's on the Dole? ... nobody in the Glasgow area then?) Just saw an article in the paper yesterday that the Russian premier has just announced that Russia will not "fall back" this year. All he had to do was dictate it.

Maybe someone can confirm this - but I've heard that ALL of China is in one time zone. That seems crazier to me than 2 zones in little Scotland. Years ago, Michigan refused to go on DST when the rest of the US and Canada did. Wreaked havoc for the thousands of Windsorites(Ontario) who commuted to Detroit every day to work.

That's my point. Two time zones in a small geographical area = havoc. ; ) As for the Dole (not pineapples), because there are so very, very many more English than Scottish they figure their costs would go down if they didn't have to worry about them. I'm not saying the logic is right, I'm just reporting what I read. Remember I do think of the posters on The Scotsman as Neanderthals. ; ) Pam

It's true, Elaine, all of China is a single time zone. It's fine for those in the eastern part of the country where the bulk of the population and industry are, but it's a mess in the far western parts, where it's midmorning before it even gets light.

Before the establishment of distinct time zones, the time in the U.S. was chaotic. Each town had their own "time", based on when the sun was supposedly directly overhead there. The railroad pushed for standard times to make sense of their schedules. The "sun overhead" principle is deeply flawed anyway. Because of the non-circular orbit of the earth, and one of Kepler's laws, the solar day is only exactly 24h long twice a year. So the time that the sun is directly overhead varies everyday. On which day do you call the time when the sun is directly overhead noon? ( Of course, when clocks were only accurate to ±half an hour a day, who cared.)