Usually by now we’ve all here in the States (except weird states like Arizona) set our clocks back one hour to end Daylight Saving Time and enter Daylight Spending Time until the following Spring. But when Gee-Dub signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Daylight Saving Time was officially extended four weeks starting this year as a measure to combat growing energy use problems. The jury’s out on whether the ol’ U.S. of A. is experiencing any real energy savings as a result, but I suppose we’ve got to study the trends for twenty years before attempting more legislation….

But the extension of Daylight Saving Time didn’t seem ominous back in March when we set our clocks ahead two weeks early. Things got lighter and brighter right quick-like, as I recall. But this week, I’m noticing something rather dark-like, especially in the mornings. As I drive to work, there seems to be a plentiful supply of…

…darkness.

And on this morning’s early commute, the thick morning clouds overhead only seemed to make the darkness…

…more dark. 

It was so dark, people, that:

• I couldn’t see the chuckholes on the freeway.
• Neither could I see the hand gestures of the other drivers.
• My jazz station played an old-style Soviet dirge.
• Things seemed downright Goth. And not even decent Goth, but that kind of 80’s Goth that gave Goth a bad name.
• No, I mean it, it was so dark you couldn’t even see the dark right in front of your face.  

Even darkly obscure movie quotations were filtering through my dark-stained noggin:

What is worst about this humiliation, Clarice?

It seems things are so emphatically darker during this portion of Daylight Saving Time; it’s as if we’re spending more daylight than we’re saving. I suppose, however, that there’s a bright side to all this darkness: the little hobgloblins will actually be able to see where they’re walking as they filch candy from their neighbors this Halloween. I’ve decided that I’m going to think globally and act locally by leaving all the lights off and letting them try to filch mine.

The Winehiker reminds his readers to set their clocks back one hour before hitting the sack this coming Saturday, November 3rd.

~winehiker

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 9:32 am and is filed under grape squeezins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.