Volume 5, Issue No. 15
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Sunday, November 5, 2023
~ Daylight Savings Time is again temporarily shelved as of today, signaling the end of the glorious Spring and Summer months and pave the way, in mid-Fall, for the arrival of Winter. So we're back to normal, normal in the sense that the rhythm of our body clock would not be upset. Does DST do good or bad? Well, the debate continues and there's no end in sight.
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DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME TAKES A BACKSEAT
Reclaiming An Hour to Prepare for Winter
The Conundrum of Living in Canada
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” - John Steinbeck
TORONTO - Today, Sunday, we're back to standard time as we transition from Daylight Savings Time (DST) which had been in effect since the second Sunday of March.
We reclaim one hour of our time we gave to the advent of Spring and Summer months - the joyous moments of the year devoted to feasts and celebrations of all kinds.
Certain organizers of community events must now be feasting on the bounties their activities brought them. So much social media hype coupled with untruths plus continuous reechoing of their purported goals proved fruitful, money-wise, and we are the losers for it.
It's still Fall, a good 46 days to Winter, and the changing temperatures from warm to cold to chilly during the day and night herald the inevitability of its coming. Again, it's time to bulk up.
Fall or Autumn here in Canada is so magical, especially for those of us who were born to the spectre of destructive earthquakes and volcanoes, suffocating heat, devastating typhoons and floods.
Faced with these predicaments, we dream of . . . enchanted days in the land of plenty, of white Christmases, of red-nosed reindeers, of unimaginable gifts, of abundant food on the table, of many things we could think of.
Nobody is to blame. Nature has endowed the Philippines with such peculiarity being in the Pacific Ring of Fire where 90 percent of earthquakes occur. As such, we live with danger and know how to survive.
While we may be able to escape these dire conditions in the homeland and move to Canada or the United States, we're still susceptible to another northern phenomenon - the bitter, bone-chilling, sub-zero weather and the snow.
The curiosity borne out of our eastern upbringing steers us to imbibe the western way of life. For examples, we delight in witnessing the changing season, especially from Fall to Winter with the magnificent Fall colours. We frolic in the snow. We dress up like never before.
The situation in this part of Canada seems to even out the nature of things. Regardless of the oppressive heat, we run off to our birth country to elude the harsh winter here and thus make ourselves snowbirds.
Our tourism industry with the support of the government has in fact capitalized on it with its Winter Escapade series, now on its eighth season starting in February 2024. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUyCwdLh65A).
With DST deactivated, we regain an hour, perhaps to catch up with our sleep, or do indoor chores that we have set aside temporarily in favour of outdoor activities.
In my case, reading is a favorite indulgence. These past seasons I have accumulated dozens of non-fiction books at no small cost. It's the kind of self-study that I engage in to broaden my knowledge which I'd like to share with my readers. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).
Thank you for this wonderful article. God bless. Warm regards,
ReplyDeleteTony San Juan, Toronto