...should end - either way - today, once the results of the polled votes in the referendum are tallied. I have to say, for those of you not in WA, the debate between Yes and No (and internally between Yes and Yes and No and No) have been quite, um, strident. There's been all sorts of allegations and claims and research quoted etc, etc. I for one will be glad when the furore dies down, whichever way the vote goes :)
(you may recognise the photo above as my blogheader...it's the only photo of the sunset in Perth that I have...sorry bout the repetition)I've popped out this morning and placed my vote, which was for Yes. (ducks and prepares to be stoned / hung drawn and quartered by the 'No' camp...just joking peeps!!)
Realistically for me and my lifestyle, DLS or no DLS has very little impact.
Each day of the year my alarm goes off at 4am. Depending on the activities of my day I either snooze with the crackly radio on until its time to get up and shower and change for work and leave the house to catch the 6.41am bus to be at work by 7.00am.
If I have training in the mornings (which is most weekdays) I get my weary butt out of bed and either head to the pool (have to leave the house by 6.00am for a 6.30am start) or to running (various start times, the earliest of which is 6.00am which means I leave home at 5.30am to get to the track on time).
If it's a standard workday, I work 7.00am through until 4.00pm, if I've had training before work I usually leave at 5.00 or 5.30. I work for a large Bank, which has it's head office in Melbourne. Sometimes the time difference is a pain in the butt, but the reason I start so early is to try to kind of match my hours to theirs. I do this for no other reason than it suits me. I started doing it about three jobs ago as I dealt A LOT with the east back then, but not so much now, and it just made life easier with internal approval cut-off times etc etc. Also, it works better for me for public transport and I am lucky in that it works for those around me also.
So, I'm generally home by 4.30pm. When there is/was no DLS this means that I have my own kind of 'natural' DLS. Sure, I leave the house to go to work when it's dark, but I get that time back at the end of the day as I am still able to pop into the shops or go for a run or cycle or do whatever else I want to do in the sunlight.
Why vote 'Yes' then, you might ask?
Well, it's generally always some level of dark for me when I leave the house, which means I train in the pool in the dark, and I run on the track in the dark, and I run on the road in the dark (wearing reflective gear head to toe) and I cycle to work in the dark (again with the reflective gear...I sooooo do not want to be hit by a bus!) or I wait at the bus stop in the dark. DLS doesn't really address this for me due to my personal choice in starting work earlier than the norm.
But, the bit I enjoy most is the afternoons and evenings. Sure it's hotter - not because there's any extra hours in the day but because we have artifically moved the time - but it's not actually hotter for any longer. The daylight available at the end of the day means that I can get in some (more) training if I want and it is still light enough to relax outside afterwards, or go out with friends etc. Plus - you know what - in summer (which is when DLS operates) it's ALWAYS FREAKING HOT in Perth!!! Some weeks this summer the temperature didn't seem to drop below 'stinking-hot-OMG-why-is-my-aircon-so-crap' for weeks on end. I mean, it's May now and we haven't had rain for 22-days (or something) and the temperature is in the high 20's. It's hot I tells ya!!
I also agree that Perth has it's own 'natural' DLS if you like, due to the meridien or whatever that thingy is that passes closely to Perth. This pretty much means that because the fine state of WA is so large, there are already different timezones evident, but which we don't observe. But seriously...one timezone per state is enough methinks!!
So, whilst I appreciate that DLS is not for everyone, and goodness knows other *cough* athletes (I use that term quite loosely in reference to myself BTW) prefer no DLS, and it probably is harder on the kiddies to get to bed when it's still lighter outside (and all the other reasons that people have, which I completely respect), the end result for me is that it works for me; I prefer the lifestyle it offers me and I prefer being able to make my own semi-informed decision on that basis without people getting all huffy about me having an opinion that differs from theirs ;)
So, in any case (and to borrow a phrase from one of my favourite websites, cuteoverload.com) peeps of WA: Vote, Vote, Vote like a Baby Stoat (whichever way you decide!!).
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Day 16 of 31 (or 365) - aaaaahhhh, cool glass of Pepsi Max, Billy Joel on the stereo and beautiful warm sunny weather. Bliss :)
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