User:ABTOP/draft4
ABTOP 12:02, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
Purpose of this draft: to provide a basis for explaining the existence of a Spanish Independent Commision on Time Factors affecting Spain. Working is required to provide an acceptable article.
SUBJECT: Social Scientists in SPAIN can encounter problems with TIME !
Possible Wikipedia Ref. End of page, some possibility similar to "Australia" item for western Europe (Spain)
Page name: Working time Author: Wikipedia contributors Publisher: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Date of last revision: 25 December 2006 06:14 UTC Date retrieved: 5 January 2007 11:33 UTC Permanent link: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Working_time&oldid=96383724 Page Version ID: 96383724
OR
@misc{ wiki:xxx,
author = "Wikipedia",
title = "Working time --- Wikipedia{,} The Free Encyclopedia",
year = "2006",
url = "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Working_time&oldid=96383724",
note = "[Online; accessed 5-January-2007]"
FURTHER REFERENCES: My /draft1 and /draft2 are also relevant to this discussion.
INTRODUCTION:
The consequences of my own observations in Spain were intensified by an article by probably a social scientist in the English language newspaper of the Costa del Sol, "SUR in English" in July 2,005, entitled "Goodbye Siesta" by Isabel Ibanez. I am a physicist with much experience in working with time and locations as well as experimental physics measurements of the intensity of Ultra-Violet radiation (M.Phil. Imperial College, London). Those experiences and observations recently in Spain, I have previously submitted to the "Comision Nacional" of the Fondacion Independiente in Madrid ("En hora"). Extra submissions have also been posted to the Comision Nacional as further documentary evidence came into my possession. I have also kept the University of Cadiz (in the City) informed of my submissions.
The PROBLEMS:
The article by Sra. Ibanez should be very much of concern in a number of ways! It is obvious that the article is well-written in excellent technical English, and that the author has obviously examined the situations discussed in the article with care! Besides the nature of the actual possible solutions in the article, it is disturbing and distressing that this account of the social working and living environment in Spain shows a deficiency which appears to be rife in the community. My own submission to the Comision Nacional in January, 2006 deals with that lack of essential knowledge which has arisen over the period before, and since, at least 90 years in Spain! The knowledge which at that time was only partially realised, and then soon forgotten by most of the community, was that concerning both the imposition and the consequences of a major social change by the Spanish Government!
I have been able to show on later occasions (for example, criticism of an article in the local "Viva Cadiz" newspaper on June 22, 2006 discussing details of Spanish Clocktime and the Summer Solstice date) that the factor in Spanish socio-economic conditions introduced so long ago, is the major change of the daily clocktime regime to effectively greater than "Double Summertime" for most of Spain! The adjustment to the Spanish clocktime is effectively demonstrated by the official website of the "official timekeepers" of Spain at the Royal Institute & Marines Observatory at San Fernando, Pcia Cadiz, Spain! "(www.roa.es)" shows that Double Summertime was instituted in 1918 for the first time (following the example of France in 1916). The website also contains verification that "Summertime" of more than ONE hour extra exists in Spain during the whole of Winter!
The basic time zone standard in Winter (Hora Oficial Peninsular) is that of the International Time Zone, "Central European Time".
The daily living routine which followed subsequently is peculiar only to Spain, the Canary Islands and western parts of France and the French Mediterranean area. (Parts of Europe in the North are not badly affected by the conditions described, simply because the critical events of, say, sunrise time, are at a much more acceptable time in the North, especially in Summer, and in Winter the morning darkness is much to be expected). Emphasis is very often found here that the socio-economic factors which are discussed in the "Submission to the National Comission" do NOT occur in PORTUGAL, because that country does not participate in the "Hora Oficial Peninsular" - in spite of the latter nomenclature, thus mornings are lighter earlier there at all times of the year!
SPECIFIC INSTANCES:
The disturbing and distressing factor in the article by Sra. Ibanez (which at the time time I attempted to relate to the author in an email via the newspaper) is her belief that Spanish people in general eat a late evening meal, subsequently followed by retiring to bed at a late hour! It was also disturbing that this apparent behaviour had a direct influence on her conclusions concerning the ineffective application of new Socio-economic conditions for the working and scholastic public. Similar factors also appeared in the article relating to other similar, "later" activities of the population.
It must be stated most emphatically that the re-imposed clocktime regime of Double Summertime in Spain in 1974 skews, throughout the 24 hour day, the actual time appropriate to both human and animal responses to the Sun by more than TWO HOURS in Summer in Spain. Thus the observations in the article, together with the experience of visitors, that Spanish people live late in the day are quite erroneous! As previously explained to the Comision Nacional, that illusion is caused by the clocks in Spain operating more than two hours later than the true local Sun time at all hours! As a further consequence, all times on the clocks in Spain in Summer should be accounted for in the Social Sciences as being at about TWO HOURS less for any activity! The action of the powerful Sun on the responses of both humans and animals is of paramount importance in Spain! On this revised basis, Spanish people eat a comparatively early evening meal some two hours earlier than perceived on the clock, and retire at not much after a true time of 10 p.m.!
Secondly, another imposition of that additional Spanish Clocktime regime is that the apparent time for sun up (sunrise) is artificially, extraordinarily late in Summer and late in Winter, compared to the times on the clocks in the other parts of the Mediterranean and PORTUGAL (and also means that Spanish clocks are always never showing the true time, but that shown in distant eastern parts of the Mediterranean in Summer, or Italy in Winter). It should be noted that PORTUGAL does not exhibit such problems, possessing a clocktime regime more appropriate to mean true Solar time in Winter.
CONSEQUENCES:
As indicated in my "Submission to the National Comission", the major point here is that too few officials, politicians and many others (being in my perception) know properly enough about the Clocktime in Spain and its effects (on for example, working conditions, travel conditions, the Siesta, lunch breaks, evening meals, schoolchildrens' inappropriate starting hours, etc., - relative to the true Solar Time!). A change by the Government to the "Hora Oficial Peninsular" by ONE HOUR in the year would make it entirely unnecesary to abolish the Siesta, - as has been the alternative suggestion!
A thorough study of the situation in Spain is needed outside the deliberations of the National Comission! It can only be perceived that the education system in Spain has appeared to lack information to pupils in the past on this subject.
William E G Plumtree, M.Phil (Lond).
Attention: El Presidente de la Comision Nacional
== EXPERIENCE of the Author ==
I noted with interest your recent appearance on the TVNews of RTVE 1 around the 22 of December, 2005.
At 70 years of age, I have for many years since college days been very interested in the subject of Time and related longitude/latitude effects. Originally from London, I have been staying here continuously since June 2004.
Part of my education was in a Polytechnic specialising in Horology, the classes being divided into four competitive houses named after prominent experts such as John Harrison. He, of course, provided the World with the first chronometer to function accurately in rough seas, enabling longitude to be better determined. As the attached interview with the local newspaper “Viva Cadiz” mentions, longitude and latitude were heavily involved in my calculations of my own observations of earth satellite orbital periods – which I transmitted to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough – and were acknowledged as being very accurate, although by means of very elementary facilities.
Also relevant, as you will see, is my Experimental High Postgraduate Degree on the subject of the intensities of spectral UV emissions of gases present in reentry experiments concerning earth satellites (Imperial College, University of London). Further experience with computer programming in various computer languages and much experience with the Statistics of Random Processes in the USA also can be cited.
I hope that you will find something of interest in my observations on Spanish life over the past 18 months.
== SUBMISSION TO THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ==
1.0 The Spanish Commission "En Hora", Deliberating on the Current Clocktime Régime in Spain.
For nearly ninety years, Spain has run its clocktime continuously using a basis not found in most parts of the world. A similar clocktime regime was previously founded by the influential French Academy in Paris (where indeed, French clocks were regulated at first to the true local sunclock time in Paris – and not to Greenwich parameters!). It is true that in these days it can be claimed that Spain does operate its clocktime régime on an “International Time Zone” standard – namely, in Winter, Spanish clocks show Central European Time (CET), and in Summer show Central European Summer Time (CEST). It would be apparent that Spain is in fact not in Central Europe – it is one hour distant in Solar time from that location and well West.
The Spanish Commission was set up (2002 - ) in the light of increased knowledge, to consider what implications there are for Spain to continue with its clocks in Summer continually showing times two hours and more different to the local sunclock time. As will be discussed below, the local sunclock time is vitally important to the way human beings function and react during both day and night! That in itself is the nub, or nucleus, of the problem that the Commission has to deal with.
2.0 HISTORY.
Since ancient times, the rural, farming communities in many parts of the World have been conforming to a life style routine governed by the daily cycle of the Sun. The population in Spain, in particular, was immensely affected by the powerful Sun experienced in Summer. Over the whole World, with the exception of the Poles, there are two days in which the hours of darkness and light each last exactly 12 hours, namely the equiluxes. On those two days, the Sun rises at approximately 6 a.m. and sets at 6 p.m. everywhere on the sunclock, with only slight variations mainly due to the altitude of the observer. Rural communities are observed to awaken at the time of 6 a.m. roughly throughout the year, especially at latitudes comparable with that of the Mediterranean. In those days, rural populations, as well as those considered to be city dwellers, had little or no use for clocks – the church bells regulated by the sundial, or sundials themselves were adequate.
It can be seen that the most popular literature in Spain (Cervantes) has little need to refer to the hours. Readers in other countries often prefer much later authors (in Britain, Dickens, Lewis Carrol and, in particular, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ["Sherlock Holmes"], are much read) who are much more inclined to make reference to the times of, say, meals (“Tea-time” at 4 p.m.) or suspects´ alibis. Clocks and watch times in the nineteenth century are apparent to such readers, whereas Spanish readers do not read so often at what hour events occurred in the accounts of Cervantes, etc. Virtually everywhere in the World in ancient times, work would stop when the Sun was at its highest and strongest – and that is at culmination (12 noon mean Solar Time). In Spain, in Summer the Sun is still strong until near sunset, and the evening meal was then in preparation. Since sunset in Summer at the latitude of 36 degrees North (Cadiz) is everywhere there at about 7:15 p.m. that would make the mealtime prepared for about 7:30 p.m. local sunclock time (or three hours after sunset in Winter). In those communities there was no incentive to stay up late in the evening beyond 10 p.m. local time. These facts are not easily found in the Spanish literature of the time, because only “sunrise” and “sunset” really made sense, with perhaps a qualification of a rough number of hours difference.
Up to the critical period of 1918, when Spain introduced the modern clocktime regime, few persons in rural Spain were bothered with clocks and watches. Probably the Railway Stationmaster, the train drivers and signalmen, the police, military and Ayuntamiento were exceptions. The Stationmaster might well have been operating the first train of the day just about sunrise that first Spring in 1918 – at about 6:30 a.m.
3.0 1 9 1 8
For reasons which are unclear all-round (See Paragraphs 3.2 and 6.1), the Spanish Government stipulated that Spanish clocks should henceforth conform to a clocktime two hours in advance of the true local sunclock time on the “Greenwich Meridian”. That longitude line on the map passes through Castellon, near Valencia on the East Coast of Spain. It must be noted that it is only in the Eastern part of Spain that the clocks show exactly the local sunclock time plus exactly two hours. Local sunclock times in the West of Spain necessarily have the Sun arriving later in that area, as shown on the Spanish clocks. It “takes the Sun”, as we say, time to travel west (an average time during the year of 25 minutes at Cadiz). In Autumn, the clocks were to be adjusted back by one hour. (More on these matters in Paragraphs 3.2 and 6.1).
These regulations occurred far too early in history for Spain to have really significant effect on the population at the time. Spain still had a very rural living style, dependent on the Sun, and not apt to have much notice taken of the new , much earlier, and it has to be admitted, curiously inappropriate timings indicated by the clock. If the Government wanted the public to act earlier during the day (and night) in its various activities, then it largely failed. The Stationmaster could no longer practically operate the first train of the day at 6:30 a.m.! The public largely still woke up at sunrise – in early April this was, as now, about 8:20 a.m. in Cadiz. Unless they have to prepare for work early, commute into town, or go to school/college, Spanish people still prefer to wake up about 8:30 a.m. through the year. There is still no point in having lunchbreak or Siesta when the Sun is only halfway up in the morning sky (as it is on the Spanish clock at 12 o’clock) – it was much more sensible to wait for the Sun to be at its highest, and that was now at 14:30 in Cadiz. Similarly, at the height of Summer, the strong Sun finally set at about 21:30 and the Spanish people no longer appeared to have the evening meal at 19:30 – since now the Sun is way up in the western sky at that time! In 1918, and after, the Spanish population largely ignored the new clocktime system.
3.1 THE BASIC REASON for the REBELLION.
While it seems obvious from the above why the changes to the clocktime were largely ignored at first, it has to be put on a theoretical/practical basis.
We all have a regulatory mechanism in the lower part of the brain, which reacts particularly to the presence or absence of light. It is easily demonstrated to follow the timing of daylight, and it is quite difficult to modify the imposed effect on sleep patterns ( - we sometimes have to rely on alarm clocks to force awakening). The "Body-Clock", or "Bio-Rhythms" reign supreme! (see explanation in Section 5.2.3)
The new time régime was imposed in Spain at a time when clocks hardly mattered to the majority of the population and so had little effect on the response of the public.
3.2 LATER SUCCESS of the NEW CLOCK REGIME.
As the years progressed from 1918, there was greater development of industrialisation and commercialisation. Organisations insisted that their work-force start work at the times common to those in Western Europe. I believe that the Government of Spain in 1918 succeeded in one of its aims - to get the population to get to work earlier than previously, and perhaps, longer over the workday! In addition, since schoolchildren were being familiarised with the new times of events in the day, and rather more slowly, their parents, the population as a whole forgot about the times (if aware precisely, anyway) at which they functioned prior to 1918. Any verbal protest faded away rapidly, but, on the whole, the population were actually behaving as if the Sun was controlling the rest of the day and evening.
4.0 CONDITIONS NOW PREVAILING and AWARENESS.
These days, both visitors and the Spanish population are unaware directly of the current situation on the clocks. Indeed, they do not believe that the clocks show anything other than the true time - apart from the minor effects of the clock time changes in Spring and Autumn. (Both groups believe that "summertime" of one hour exists on the Spanish clocks in Summer!). Each of the two groups tend to think that the behaviour of the other group has to be explained as part of their "traditional behaviour"! In one sense, the Spanish population does have an obvious tradition with timekeeping - but, it has existed for just less than ninety years! However, in another sense, they keep to a tradition following unknowingly the mean true Solar Time which has been maintained for millennia.
4.1 EXISTING INFORMATION.
Apart from the work of the Commission itself, there is really no apparent information available for either of the two groups about the true nature of the Spanish Clocktime! It is not apparent to the visiting group that the Spanish population is awake early in the morning - indeed, they have the impression that the people sleep late in the morning - it is an illusion of the Spanish Clocktime Régime! Nor do they realise that the people are actually having lunch at true 12 o'clock noon! Neither do they realise that the Spanish people are getting ready for the evening meal at 19:30 ( 7:30 pm ) on the true Solar timescale! Because of the lack of information, visitors particularly staying at beach hotels tend to wake themselves around 7:00 to 7:30 am. Those times are around sunrise in Summer - but sunrise in Cadiz Province is at a mean true Solar Time of 04:45 am (on the sunclock!). That time is in contrast to the mean true Solar Time that the Spanish population prefers to awaken - namely about 06:00, just as rural societies did in the past!
Another anomaly apparent to the visiting group is the appearance that Spanish children are still up very late in the evening. Of course, this is just another illusion of the Spanish Clock system. In fact, Spanish children function fully in accordance with their "Body-Clock"/"Bio-Rhythms" in the evening. They are however obliged to be awakened too early in the morning for school! Workers also must be quite unaware that they must be awake so extremely early in the morning, generally earlier than even the children! (See Paragraph 5.2).
4.2 PERSONS WHO ARE AWARE.
Certain professional persons are in a position to recognise that clocktimes in Spain can be awkwardly compared to either the local true time, or to the international "norm - UTC" at the Castellon/Valencia meridian. Weather observers throughout the World, as well as those in Spain, normally make observations and measurements at precisely the same three-hourly intervals during both day and night. Thus, at 00:00, 03:00, 06:00,09:00, . . . hours UTC, such data must be recorded and transmitted via headquarters worldwide. In Spain, during Summer, these times are precisely at 02:00,05:00,08:00,11:00, . . . am on the clocks in Spain! - but they must be officially recorded as the UTC times just quoted. Any Spanish involvement with Space Research or the International Space Station must also use the difference in times! Astronomers, particularly those at the international participation Observatory in San Fernando, Pcia. Cadiz, must also use UTC - as well as all international airlines, ships navigators and captains, the military, etc, throughout the World. They are in a position to observe the obvious deviation of the Spanish Clock from true, local Solar Time! Spanish travellers who spend some time in places far from West Europe (that is, outside the CET time zone) can also become aware of the different "foreign" use of time during the day.
4.3 EXTREME CONDITIONS.
Because the country of Spain is very wide in extent in its northern areas, it is practically one "International Time Zone" in width, East to West, but, of course, displaced in relation to the time meridian through Castellon. That is, as we say, "it takes the Sun an hour to travel" from overhead in Port Bou to overhead in Santiago de Compostela. However, the time-setting, north-south longitude line passes through Spain roughly through the centre of the Pyrenees to Castellon. Along that meridian line in Winter, Spanish clocks show what is known on the international scale as "Summertime" (or CET) - clocks one hour ahead of the local, true Solar Time - the latter actually being continuously monitored by the atomic clocks in San Fernando Observatory. During Summer, those clocks are showing "Double Summertime" (or CEST) - that is a further added hour to the true time! Put simply, true Solar Noon on that meridian line in Summer is at 2:00 pm on the clocks there. True midnight is similarly shown as 2:00 am. Since the Earth is not a very good timekeeper, these times do actually vary somewhat during the seasons.
However, as stated above, "it takes the Sun further time to travel westwards" to such locations as Cadiz, Huelva and, particularly, Santiago de Compostela. At the latter location, in Summer, midday is about 2:50 pm and midnight is about 02:50 am - reducing to about 1:50 pm/am in Winter. These conditions are very important when considering most of the effects described in this document, because such features are made more extreme in the areas in the West and South-West of Spain.
5.0 SERIOUS EFFECTS.
As the Spanish society has developed over the years since 1918, in common with other societies, knowledge concerning healthy living and better working practices has increased. Much has had to be learned about human biological behaviour and needs ( particularly in relation to sleep requirements, performance skills - such as in safe car driving and machine operating, etc). Above, I referred to the Body-Clock or Bio-Rhythms as being important factors in the response of persons (or animals) reaction to the presence of daylight - usually on a regular, habit-forming basis. It cannot be emphasised enough, that a person will experience either, being awake and alert, or tired and drowsy, on the basis of the response of the Body-Clock to time as indicated by the presence or absence of daylight on a habitual experience (See Section 5.2.3).
5.1 HEALTHY, RESPONSIVE CHILDREN ?
The President of the Spanish Commission, in his Television News appearance around 22nd December, 2005, referred to the case of children in Spain experiencing less required sleep than equivalent children in other parts of the European Union. (As I keep emphasising, it has to be remembered that the degree of loss of sleep time is greater in the Western half of Spain). I stated earlier, (Paragraph 4.1) that Spanish children, emphatically, DO NOT stay up unusually late, since the motto to remember in Spain is that "It is earlier than you think!" with relation to the Spanish Clocktime. They are made to be awake earlier than necessary (from the point of view of sleep requirements) because:
a)... == The Clock Régime requires them to be too early at school or college ==
b)... == Their parents are misled by the Clock Régime as well! ==
c)... == In effect, sunrise time on the Spanish clocks for all of the year is artificially late, ==
which means children are awakened before the real (earlier) dawn time for too much of the year.
I am referring to Spanish Clock dawn times of about 07:15 am in Summer in Cadiz, to about 08:40 am in Cadiz in Winter. Even in Winter, a schoolchild will probably be awakened at about 06:10 on true, Solar - or Body-Clock - time. In Summer, that time becomes as early as 05:00 am - leading the Commission to consider revision of the system. (Note that the times on the East Coast of Spain are half an hour LATER in Body-Clock or Solar Time!). Obviously, there is a detrimental effect on the response of the children to learning in the morning.
5.2 SAFE DRIVING?
5.2.1 DIFFERING RUSH HOUR CONDITIONS.
In general, I would expect the morning rush hour to be more congested than in the evening. More persons require to travel to work at about the same times, but the Siesta means that the evening would have two lesser rush hours. Since the morning rush hour in Cadiz is very early on the true Solar time scale, which means driving in dark conditions even in April and October, drivers are likely to be more stressed at that time, than in the evening with less traffic and when they are wide awake! Note that removal of the Siesta period from Spanish life will result oin just two main rush hours in the day - both very congested! - there would be just one main rush hour in the early evening.
5.2.2 EFFECTS on DRIVERS.
In general terms, the effects of the clock régimes on the actual waking up times and the alertness of drivers in the mornings is similar to that on the children above, except that the commuters will require to be up even earlier. Again, most of the drivers will have been ready for sleep in the evening at about 10:00 pm on their Body-Clocks! Just as in the case for the children, Spanish people do not generally go to sleep at an unusually late time. - It is another illusion of the Clocktime Régime! However, many must be awakened well before sunrise for most of the year. It is not an exaggeration to state that in Summer, that is equivalent to a Body-Clock time of 04:30 am. In the South-Western Spain, where sunrise is later than in the East, that means that commuters are driving for much of the year in the dark. Rationalisation of the Spanish Clock Régime would have beneficial results in this instance:
a) Each day, the actual sunrise times on the clocks would be one hour earlier, so that commuters would be driving in light conditions more often.
b) Each day, these persons would be permitted to wake up effectively one hour later than above on their Body-Clock time - in South-Western Spain in Summer at 05:30 am and in Winter at 06:30 am. ( In the South-East of Spain, those Body-Clock times are 06:00 and 07:00 am respectively).
5.2.3 ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT RATES.
It was encouraging to see that the number of deaths on the roads of Spain have been decreasing quite markedly in the past years. Reports quite recently in the press have not demonstrated such a significant decrease in the actual number of serious accidents as such. It is apparent that there has been a welcome improvement in the efficiency of detection and assistance by the emergency teams in Spain. I have noticed in the recent television news reports that the greatest number of serious accidents occur during darkness.
It is a researched fact in Great Britain, and I would be sure, also in Spain, that the Road Traffic Accident Rate is increased on the darker side of the Spring and Autumn clock adjustments. Currently in Spain, the evening rush hours are not so critically congested as in the morning, as mentioned above. Also, it must be emphasised that while the Body-Clock of the commuter is indicating that the morning rush hour is within the sleep and drowsy period, in the evening that Body-Clock is indicating that the driver should be awake and alert!
Thius, rationalisation of the Spanish Clocktime Régime is likely to result in more favourably alert drivers in the morning rush hour, as well as better sleep opportunities. The effect of less light in the evenings would be much less significant for drivers' safety.
{EXPLANATION of Body-Clock "use in bio-technology".
The Body-Clock was very apparent in the hey-day of the experimental analysis of sleep. The electroencephalograph "EEG" plotting of the brain electrical potential variations during waking and sleep periods was profligate around the ´50s and ´60s. Such plots revealed the patterns of brain activity as related to the true mean Solar Time of the experimental periods - so-providing the means of assessing the response of the "Body-Clock" so-formed on the plots. The "Body-Clock" in the base of the brain is the ONLY explanation of the "JET-LAG" phenomena which also relates to the need for the new response to a perceived different Solar Time at the destination to be experienced as a delay established on the NEW habitual basis, i.e. a delay of some days before the real local time is understood by the traveller.}
5.3 THE SOLAR HEALTH HAZARD.
The increase in the incidence of melanomas (skin cancer caused by over-exposure to UV radiation) reported recently in the Malaga District (SUR in English, 2 - 8 September, 2005) would alert most Health Authorities in the World that not only sunbed-tanning is a source of concern - inadvertent exposure to UV radiation during natural tanning activity is also known to be a source of increased incidence of melanomas. Even on December 31, 2005, the local "Diario de Cadiz" emphasised the Health Authorities concern that members of the public are prone to contract melanomas from exposure to the Sun in the Winter period. Unfortunately, the article omitted any mention of the most damaging period of the day in Cadiz Province during Winter. The most intense UV radiation in a cloudless situation is around Solar Noon - 13:30, or 1:30 pm on the Spanish Clocks. (That must be compared to around the noon time of 14:30, or 2:30 pm in Summer).
I campaigned last Summer in Spain for two targets - one, naturally for everyone to be alert to the lateness in the afternoon in Spain (particularly in the South-West) of the hazard of UV radiation. This lateness is a result of the Spanish Clocktime Régime which means the people must be alerted to the period of 12 noon to 5:00 pm on their watches. The other target was in Great Britain, where the authorities alert English language newspapers that persons should be aware of harmful sunshine during the period of 11 am to 3 pm. They omitted to declare that the information was only valid for use in areas with one hour only added to the true Solar Time in summer. Such information appearing in Spain is obviously dangerous for the Summer. (It can, however apply to Spain in Winter, because Spain has Summertime of one hour on its clocks in Winter). It should also be noted that in the Algarve in Portugal, just a motor ride away, the hazardous period in the day is much earlier.
5.3.1 DERIVING CORRECT ADVICE REGARDING the SOLAR UV RADIATION HAZARD.
Perhaps as a consequence of providing the "Diario de Cadiz" newspaper with my English input to "SUR in English" newspaper around July 14, 2005, the population of Cadiz Province was reminded by publication of the local Health Authority's alert that they should take appropriate protective action from UV radiation during the period of 12 noon to 5:00 pm (CEST)(Diario de Cadiz, July 23, 2005). That information coincided with the eventual publication of my English letter (SUR in English, July 22-28, 2005). In the latter, I tried to explain as clearly as I could from first principles in longitude time practice, that the time for midday in Cadiz in Summer is at 02:30 pm (14:30 CEST). The Spanish Clocktime Régime confuses both visitors and the Spanish population with respect to when the Sun is at its most strongest and dangerous! - between 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm. (Note that on the East Coast of Spain, near the Castellon meridian, the danger period there is closer to 11:30 am to 16:30 - or 4:30 pm, because of the near half an hour difference in the times between the East and the West).
Rationalisation would help to make sunbathing safer in Spain for everyone, since the waywardness of the above periods would be reduced by one hour ( that is, 11:00 am to 4:00 pm (CET) in Cadiz would be a more recognisable period of danger - 10:30 am to 3:30 pm (CET) being then appropriate for the East Coast).
5.3.2 ASSOCIATION with the SIESTA.
Over millenia, the major feature of the Siesta has been the consequent, if not the instigation of, protection of the population from the ravages of the fierce Sun in Mediterranean latitudes (both progress and efficiency are much reduced in that period). If the Siesta is to be officially discontinued, then there should be concern that workers in exposed sites ( Construction sites, roads, railways, agriculture and fisheries, oil and chemical plants, quarries, the military, the police, etc. ) must be protected from the Sun by regulations! Otherwise, there will be a major increase in the already alarming incidence of melanomas in the population!
6.0 NOT SO HAZARDOUS EFFECTS.
As one would expect, there are consequences of the Spanish Clocktime Régime which are not so serious.
6.1 ENERGY SAVING SCHEME.
It could be stated that the desired "Energy-Saving" aspect of the Spanish Clocktime Régime can actually be improved by rationalisation. It has transpired that the degree of change to the time in 1918 was rather over-zealous. The current scheme fails over too much of the year, especially in the West of Spain, because the population was subsequently later caused to be over-active in the early, dark period of the morning. Some loss of sleep time in the mornings has also been noted by the National Commission, resulting in poor response of workers and schoolchildren to the working conditions from that imposition. There was also a subsequent requirement for the roads to be brilliantly illuminated in the mornings to keep commuters from falling to sleep while driving! Rationalisation would be of great benefit in this instance!
{POLITICAL Points followed, which are omitted here.}
6.2 STRESS in HOLIDAY RESORTS (primarily those with many foreign visitors)
6.3 UNAWARENESS of ATTEMPTS and NEEDS to RATIONALISE.
7.0 ANTAGONISM TO CHANGE
7.1 POLITICAL OPPOSITION.
8.0 NATURE OF THE RATIONALISATION.