Our mornings have been quite dark the last few weeks with the sun rising at 9:05 this morning. Without daylight savings time, we would have our sunrise at 10:21 am on December 21; the longest day of the year. As it stands now, we push back the clocks tonight so the sun will rise at 8:08 am tomorrow and by December 21, it will be a 9:21am sunrise.
When I think about going forward or back in time and trying to recall which province we are at the same time as, I realize that without time zones there would be no daylight savings time. The World time zones were officially adopted by many countries in late 1884. Sanford Fleming came up with the idea for the 24 hour clock and dividing the world into time zones. He also designed Canada’s first postage stamp and was a major contributor in getting the railway established across Canada.
Sanford Fleming lived in Ottawa from 1869-1882 in a large stone house called Winterholme. In 1925 the house was converted into apartments and used as a convalescence home for soldiers from WWI. Today, Winterholme still stands as a heritage building and has 16 apartments that can be rented.
When our youngest son decided to move out of an apartment with roommates to live on his own, he purposely looked at older buildings in the downtown Ottawa area as his potential new home. He graduated from Ottawa University with a degree in history and political science but his real love is history. It only seems fit that he live in a building that used to be the home of a prominent Canadian inventor/pioneer.
The architecture of Winterholme has been maintained over the years through heritage grants. It maintains it’s orginality with old metal radiators for heat and no air conditioning. Thomas gets to live where others have for over 158 years (it was built in 1865). I wonder if there are any ghosts??
So, as we turn our clocks back tonight, with whatever emotions that evokes, remember Sir Sanford Fleming. Without his idea of international standard time, there would be no need for Daylight Savings time.
If you would like to read more about Sanford Fleming, the Royal Bank wrote a fair bit about him in a newsletter in August 1979 entitled Time and Sandford Fleming. There is also another article written by a Sandy Hill preservation group called Sir Sandford Fleming.
What a nice history lesson. Thanks, as everyone is aware, Saskatchewan stays the same year round. In November, we see light dawn before 0800.
“Fall back, spring forward” rattles through my brain when there is a time change. That’s the only way I can figure it all out.