That great divider — daylight saving — is back from the early hours of Sunday.
There are those who love it. And those who absolutely despise it.
There are also those who think it starts too early, or finishes too late.
Gee, even the name itself, ‘daylight saving’, can be contentious.
Oddie listens to many people as they refer to it as ‘daylight savings’ — with an ‘s’ on the end.
That is not actually correct. There is no ‘s’ on the end.
And yes, Oddie understands that a fair number of you are googling this fact as we speak.
As a general rule, most (but certainly by no means all) of the population of those states that have it have become used to it.
Sure, it can be hard at first, especially losing that hour of sleep (or partying — depending on which stage of your life you are at).
And it being dark later in the mornings can take a bit of getting used to for those early risers.
This is where Oddie comes clean. He is not an early riser, so those darker mornings are not really an issue.
But how good is that extra hour of light after work?! Just to come home and not have it become dark soon after leaving the office is amazing.
You have time to go for a walk (or a run if you are that way inclined — Oddie is not), or do some gardening, or even just sit on your back deck and read a book for an hour or two with a glass of wine or beer while the sun still shines down.
Oddie thinks most people in Victoria have accepted daylight saving.
In other states and territories — looking at you Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory — daylight saving is just something that those on the ‘east coast’ or ‘down south’ (depending on which state you are from) do.
Oddie has lived in all of those places, and opinions are strong in not wanting to join with the rest of the country — especially in Western Australia and Queensland.
Oddie was flabbergasted when in an argument over the merits of daylight saving with a Western Australian they actually pulled out the old chestnut ‘the curtains will fade’.
Oddie had thought people saying that was just a myth. Apparently not.
But it’s okay, while living in the south of Western Australia, we all got the joys of 4am dawns — complete with birds chirping to wake you — while the ‘east coast’ (not you though, Queensland) enjoyed a far more normal start to the day. And at night, it was pitch black by 6.30pm.
Oddie is pleased to be back in Victoria. Bring on daylight saving this weekend.
Oddie will sit on his back deck — and cheers to that.
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