Thursday, March 11, 2021

don't touch that dial -- yet


Some of my Facebook acquaintances have become a bit obsessed with advance planning.

I suspect that the virus with its attendant governmental rules about vaccinations, quarantining, and general travel has had a deleterious effect on people who have a natural tendency to focus on any attempt to control future variables. Especially the unknown unknowns in the Johan window.

Starting last week a couple of my Canadian acquaintances started posting warnings that daylight saving time was almost upon us. If you are in Canada or The States, that is true. Daylight saving time will start on the morning of 14 March.*

But, if you are in Mexico, the switch will not occur until three weeks later. On 4 April (like some delayed April Fool's Day joke).

I am not going to climb on my usual naranja crate and rant about daylight saving time like an over-memed Bernie Sanders. I will save that until Mexico joins the daylight saving time crowd.

Today's essay is simply a public service reminder that for three weeks in March and April, Mexico will be on standard time and Canada and The States will be an hour off standard. That can have consequences.

If you have a flight headed north, it is going to be an hour earlier than usual. Fortunately, I fly this Saturday and will avoid the time rift in the matrix.

If you are making telephone calls across the Mexican border, the time differences in time zones will be an hour off. Your call may inadvertently get your sister-in-law out of bed. 

And there must be other considerations that I cannot conjure up in my fevered imagination.

The Oregonian reported this morning that Congress is once again considering a measure that would effectively move all of the American national time zones to the right by morphing standard time into permanent daylight saving time. But let's save that topic closer to 4 April when Mexico gets sucked into the black hole of time.

For now, listen to the planners if you are in Canada or The States. But, if you are so privileged as to be in the far-saner Mexico, sit back in your lounger for three weeks, and let time take care of itself.   


Note -- This aside is for those of you who live in sections of Mexico, Canada, and The States who are wise enough not to have been gulled into the clock-switching nonsense, and who remind me of their wisdom whenever the topic arises. The exceptions do exist. They are the gray areas.





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