The clocks shifted back by an hour today here in the Czech Republic. My internal body clock, however, was oblivious to this change. So at 5.15 AM today I woke up and sighed.

For someone who has lived most of their lives in a tropical country the concept of switching clock times is quite alien. Adding to this, is the fact that in most tropical countries sunrise and sunset times do not vary quite so drastically across the year.

When I first moved to Prague almost 5 years ago, it wasn't the freezing temperatures that took time to adjust to. It was the 4PM darkness. The first time I went to pick up my son from kindergarten on those winter days, he asked me with a mixture of fear and disappointment on his face. "Dada, why did you come to pick me up only at night"

I eventually adjusted to this circus of lights that manifests in this part of the world. The additional human-created complication of time switching, though, is still something I have never come to terms with. Talking to my local friends here tells me that most of them also find this concept annoying.

There has been some chatter over the years about ending this practice. The European Parliament voted in 2019 to scrap these changes. but as with all matters concerning multiple countries in Europe, the member states could not agree about how to go about implementing this change. Some advocate permanent summer time and some advocate permanent winter time. It's one hour. I wish they would meet midway and take half an hour off. That would leave all concerned parties, and me most of all, wholly satisfied.