A London birthday... or, Anniversal Truth

A year ago today we arrived in London. We've had a good year, with some tough times. Bronwyn observed that it has been a year that has been good for our relationship, and I would agree. The year has passed quickly. Most things haven't changed ― we're still waiting for the introduction of the hovercar, for world peace, and also for less likely things such as reasonably-priced Merton council tax. We'd talked initially of two to two-and-a-half years in the UK, so now have to start considering a half-way point. That's an interesting mental shift for us. Again, Bronwyn has an interesting observation: for the things about London, it feels like we've only just arrived, but thinking about New Zealand, it feels like we've been gone for ages. That captures it exactly. It's not a zero-sum game.

It is a well know “fact” that New Zealand is 12 hours ahead of the United Kingdom. However, this truth is more anniversal, than universal, only coming around for a short period, actually twice a year, when the daylight savings times of New Zealand and the UK coincide. In an average year the two countries are 12 hours apart for only 35 days. For seven days from today we enter one of these rare periods, with New Zealand having come off Daylight Savings early this morning.

Despite its reputation for laclustre summers, the UK spends seven months a year on “British Summer Time” ― from the last Sunday in March till the last in October. We start that period next weekend, moving us back to an 11 hour time difference with NZ again, where we'll sit for just over six months till New Zealand DST starts again on the first Sunday in October. Bronwyn and I are quite pleased with this, as the 11 hour time difference seems the most convenient one for making calls between here and New Zealand. Interestingly, Australia changes to and from summer time in coordination with the UK (and, since 1997, all of Europe). This means that the UK is never a 10 hours difference from Australia, jumping from 11 hours currently to 9 hours next weekend. So why tell you all this? Lets just say that last time we had a time difference change, we found it necessary to switch our phone off overnight for a few weeks. Friendly reminder to those calling, we'd love to hear from you, and suggest though our summer you ring during the following times:

New Zealand: From your 6pm till 8:30am. Weekends ring after 8pm your time. [But for this week: 7pm to 9:30am.]

Australia: From your 4pm till 6:30am, weekends ring after 6pm your time. [But for this week: 6pm to 8:30am.]

This will get us in the UK: Between 7am and 9:30pm, or after 9am on weekends.

Aside from this, do ring! It's cheaper than you think, and we love hearing from you...