Imagine that when the clock’s moved forward last weekend that you went with the clock change and adjusted your routines to that one hour difference but that some of your neighbours and colleagues. What confusion might follow this simple change in time? Why time would the local bus arrive, would school start, the shops open or your fasting end each day?
Lebanon, a country found on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, north of Israel and west of Syria, dealt with this very issue. The country’s caretaker Prime Minister announced that the clocks won’t change until 20th April which might be welcomed by Lebanon’s Muslims who are fasting during the month of Ramadan which ends on 21st April. It will mean they can break their fast an hour earlier, at around 18:00 instead of 19:00, the time the sun sets. However it isn’t as simple as the whole country doing what their PM says. Christian authorities in Lebanon said the clocks would change on the last Sunday in March as they do every year.
The main religious groups in Lebanon are Shia Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Christians and Druze (ethnically Arab and Arabic speaking, a monotheistic religion with many beliefs from Islam, Judaism and Christianity, and influenced by Greek philosophy and Hinduism).
The result of some changing clocks and others not? Some confusion. Middle East Airlines relied on a compromise with their clocks and other devices staying in winter time but its flight times being adjusted to avoid disrupting international schedules. Meanwhile phones which automatically switch to daylight saving time did just change as the companies had not been notified of the delay in time which the PM announced. All this made me think of the old classic advice for clock changes…
By Wednesday 29th March everything will be smoothed over as the caretaker Prime Minister has backed down and said that all clocks will do the move forward. Phew!
Look at RE and PSHCE 