the stolen hour

This picture shows the Greenwich Meridian Line, and as one can see, Iceland is not on this famous line but approx. one hour later. But we go nevertheless by GMT-time. The reason: We are constantly on summer time. A friend told me yesterday that the Icelandic Government voted for the decision of not changing the clock between seasons late in the 1940's (after the WW II and after our full independence). It was done with the good of icelandic cows in mind; they would have to be milked at the same time every morning, and how would they know whether they were on summer- or winterhours? This decision must have been made after the clock had been changed for the summer, but this means that the government has deprived us of a whole hour of sleep each morning during the winter, for 60 years!! I'm in no position to make a claim for the lost hours 60 years back in time, but 25 years back and we're good. I'd even settle for 10.

This is an old post from my old blog, one I liked too much to just throw it out with the now deleted blog.