Lollipop lady Patricia Bosworth will remember now to put her clock forward Sunday morning for daylight savings. PICTURE: JUSTIN WHITELCOCK
WITH daylight savings kicking off again this weekend, clock confusion is once again ticking away. But it also means one other thing – long leisurely summer afternoons, which is one of the essential lifestyle pleasures of the Australian summer.
And for that, Victorians have daylight savings to thank.
Daylight savings will start at 2am on Sunday, which means putting your clock forward one hour to 3am. The time to spring your clocks forward has coincidentally fallen on the same weekend before school is set to start back, which may cause confusion around what time school actually starts.
The change of time even tricked Pleasant Street Primary School’s lollipop lady who has been in the job for more than 28 years.
Patricia Bosworth thanked The Courier for reminding her to put her clock forward Sunday morning.
“I didn’t even know, I’m glad you called,” the 77-year-old said.
Ms Bosworth said she hopes everyone wakes up the right time on Monday, because she can’t wait to get back.
“I am really looking forward to going back on Monday and can’t wait to see all their little faces,” she said.
“I love children and after the school holidays they’re always so much fun, wanting to tell me what they got up to over their holidays. I tell all the children they can call me anything they like. Most of them call me lollipop.”
Durham Clock owner Stephen Hodgett has been restoring clocks since 1998. He said most people were pretty switched on when it came to daylight savings and remembered to put their clocks forward.
“For me, I work around clocks all day, every day, so I knew it was coming up,” Mr Hodgett said.
“I bought a clock once and I was too embarrassed to go and get it fixed so I taught myself to restore it. It’s a real hobby but a bit of a dying trade.”
Mr Hodgett said most people these days don’t even own a clock and their iPhone automatically changes time anyway.
With the start of daylight savings comes a timely reminder from the CFA.
Regional duty officer Archie Conroy said when you change your clock, remember to change your smoke alarm batteries too.
sharni.carroll@thecourier.com.au