So. Come November 29, Fiji’s getting Dailylight saving.
Hmmm. Not too sure what to make of this. There is much debate on the pros and cons of daylight saving, and how it will affect people’s everday living. Personally, I’m still trying to recall how it affected me back in the late 90s (when was the exact year?) when the government had implemented the same decree. I guess the fact that I can’t quite remember means that it didn’t really cause strife in my daily routine. Of course, I was in college, so aside from study hours being slightly skewed (who am I kidding, what study?), there wasn’t much cause for concern.
These days however, as part of the working force, the outlook may be different compared to my (relatively) easy going days as a college student. Getting up early in the morning means waking up to a strange skyline which (I assume for most people who get up early) by normal hours, should already have the slight tints of dawn. And then there’s the added confusion in the first few days after the magic flash fast forward date, where people will be late for dental appointments, AA meetings and after school beatings all because someone forgot to adjust their time. Factor in most people’s fondness for “Fiji Time”, and you’ve got deadlines that fail at their jobs and rather turn into simple notes in the email your boss sent you about that report you were meant to send 2 hours ago. The boss’s wrath however, will be pretty much on time.
So I’m curious. What do you people think of Fiji’s daylight saving move? Do you think we could benefit from this ’spring forward’ both economically (Fiji Islands Hotel and Tourism Association president Dixon Seeto says, “more light, more tourists, more money!”)* as well as peace of mind (Fiji Islands Hotel and Tourism Association president Dixon Seeto says, “more light, less robbers, more happy!”)*? Or are you miffed that – holy crap I just came across an article stating that Daylight saving can affect your health and wellbeing. Hmph. I guess that’s a pretty big argument against the whole deal.
There’s a poll! Let us know whether or not you’re with this whole get up an hour early deal or not. And post in the comments if you feel the need to vent/troll/hate/spam.
#1 by Christine on November 13th, 2009
I think the whole concept of DST is flawed (for all countries) and I am concerned for tourists that such short notice for the introduction this year will cause havoc with international airline schedules etc.
I suspect, living in Suva now, it won’t have much impact on me (except for changed schedules again for BBC world service and various overseas Sky channels). I was visiting Fiji as a backpacking tourist in 1999. In the outer islands (e.g. Yasawas, Lau) it had little impact except for causing confusion over the times of arrival of boats/planes. In Levuka it was VERY unpopular. The town operated on “official” time but most people working in the town live in villages/settlements around Ovalau where time continued to be governed mainly by the sun. So people arrived home from work hungry for dinner, which still arrived at sunset, so one hour later. The schools in the villages were required by the Min of Ed to keep official time (and, being close to Suva, did not just ignore the directive, as happened e.g. in Lau) but parents were not geared up to the earlier hour.
#2 by Wilson on November 13th, 2009
Good point Christine O_o Daylight saving affects the outer regions differently, with village folk less concerned about keeping up with the times and more about going on with living their lives. The clash of westernisation and the ol’ Fiji lifestyle is something I doubt will show in the media, though here’s hoping someone will bring that issue to err light, pun not withstanding ><
#3 by Wilson on November 13th, 2009
Also – i was wondering if the internet clock website is going to adjust their time as well >.>
#4 by meg on November 15th, 2009
don’t really care, but LOVE the new header on the blog!
#5 by wendy on November 28th, 2009
Sobosobo, the curtains in the tourist resorts will surely fade with that extra hour of sunlight! (Or so some people believe). Yes, it might mess up with timetables of flights, etc. We’ve had Daylight Saving in Oz for years and the computers just tell us to change the clock.
w.