Time Warp

In the last eight weeks, we have lived in five different time zones and all with varying discretion on daylight savings or what time the sun rises or sets.  

For example, Lunenberg, Nova Scotia is one hour ahead of EDT  or three hours behind UTC (Universal Time).  The sun rises around 5 am and sets around 7:30pm

St John’s, Newfoundland is one hour + 30 min ahead of EDT or two hours 30 min behind UTC.  They are the only location on that time zone.   Sun rises around 7 and sets around 9.

As we crossed the Atlantic, we kept to St John’s time since time is theoretical and more of a label for watches than actual time, since the only reason we pay attention to time offshore is to know when you have to be on watch.  Otherwise our day can be measured by sunrise and sunset.

Then there’s Spain - which is two hours ahead of UTC.  That means first light is around 7am, actual sunrise is probably closer to 8 am and sunset is around 9:15ish with dark around 10pm.  The Spanish schedule their day accordingly.  Breakfast is around 9:30 or 10, lunch around 2pm and dinner often around 9pm.  We went to a restaurant the other night and arrived at 8pm…thinking we were finally in the Spanish groove.  The owner was glad to take our name for their first seating - at 8:30.  When we came back at 8:30, we were the early birds and the only table in the restaurant.

Now that we have headed north, I wonder if this will bring us back to a more traditional schedule of breakfast around 7 or 8, lunch around 12 or 1 and dinner around 6 or 7.  Time will tell.