From Juliet Gillam.
THE polemic about time has resurfaced, and before time and money are wasted on a referendum, I wish to apprise your readers of some hard facts gained from first-hand experience of living in Normandy for 20 years.

The reality of living with the same clock as the French is that during the winter months getting up, eating breakfast, going to work and going to school are all done in the dark.

Look at the times of sunrise: 15 October, 7.30; 15 November, 8.15; 15 December 9; 15 January 9; 15 February 8.20; 15 March 7.20. Four of those months, the dullest, darkest months, are spent with the day starting out as night.

In the summer, with two hours added to sun time, the mornings are cold, and if there are any dairy farmers left to care about, there is only a short space of time around high summer when they can actually see to find their cows in the early morning.

It also makes evenings so long and it is practically impossible to get young children to go to bed. In practical terms, it is too high a price to pay for an hour gained at the end of the day – an hour to be used on what? Café society? The pursuit of idle pleasures?
Le Rocher,
St Catherine’s Hill,
St Martin.