Extra hour of light saves the day

Daylight saving is back again after tomorrow night for another six months – but while Sunday might bring plenty of people undone with messed-up times, many jewellery shops have really lost the plot when it comes to their clocks.

When it comes to daylight saving changes, the master clock-watchers get in a real spin the week before the official times change in NSW.

At Sandy McKinnon Jewellers in Tamworth, the clock winder for 25 years, Pauline Freestone, has spent hours and days this week turning their hundreds of clocks forward in time for daylight saving.

They get a head start on it but it confuses a few customers who wander in – they really don’t know what time of the day it is, according to the owner and man the female staff call “Mr Clock”.

He actually clocks up 60 years in the jewellery game in November and 50 years next year as a shop owner in Tamworth – but while he’s seen a lot of time go past, he’s not particularly a fan of daylight saving.

He loves his hour extra in the morning – an early- riser, he reckons he can get a bit of gardening done then, and get into work an hour before the doors have to open.

That extra hour of daylight we will see at the end of the day from tomorrow arvo isn’t for him.

“I’m buggered by the end of the day; it’s too early to go to the pub, and really, at 4pm it’s too hot to garden, so I’d much prefer an hour in the morning than in the afternoon,” Mr McKinnon said.

Early-risers, say his staff, all feel the same way – it’s those who finish later who like the benefits that daylight saving brings in the afternoons.

And while the clock- makers, clock-watchers and jewellers turn time forward and back twice a year, they also often get to handle more customers.

Many get the jeweller to turn their watches to the new times, not always confident about doing it themselves.

DON'T FORGET: Wind your clocks forward one hour before you go to bed tonight.