– For me, it has no particular practical significance. I can sleep an hour longer or get up an hour earlier without it bothering me, says Julian Pedersen. For twenty years he has run the watchmaking business Tusen Tikk in Strandgaten in the center of Bergen. With a large clock outside and countless clocks inside, you’d think he had a busy weekend, but the change back from summer time to normal time happens without that much extra work. – We don’t have time If you look closely enough, you will discover that there are bigger differences between the watches in the shops than the brand name and the purely aesthetic. Almost no clocks have the same time. – Why? – We receive a good number of clocks, so we simply do not have time to set all the clocks, says Pedersen. Some clocks are on summer time, while others are on standard time. Some are even on Tokyo time, while others are fixed at ten past two. Watchmaker Pedersen does not have time to set all the clocks to the correct time zone or summer/standard time. Photo: Mia Størksen / news – We wouldn’t have had time to set all these clocks twice a year, says Pedersen and looks out into the room, where there are hour, minute and second hands everywhere. This has been the practice for all twenty years he has run Tusen Tikk. Even he doesn’t care too much that summer time is now over. On the other hand, he likes the attention around watches that come fixed twice a year. – It may well continue, smiles the watchmaker. Therefore, we still have to set the clock Night to Sunday, i.e. the clock is set back from three to two. But a research study from 2021 shows that as many as eight out of ten in Europe want us to end daylight saving time. In 2018, the European Commission put forward a proposal to discontinue the system of setting the clock back and forth. And the following year, the European Parliament voted on the proposal. It went through, which means that the case had to be processed in the EU. But since then, time has stood still. – I know there are divided opinions about setting the clock, says Time Minister Jan Christian Vestre (Ap), better known under the title Minister of Industry. The time we live in with war affects the time we go after. Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre explains. Photo: Press image Vestre says that the European Parliament asked the Council of the European Union to speed up its work in 2021, but that the EU has not yet reached a conclusion on the matter. – There are probably good reasons why the EU is not prioritizing the issue of summer time right now. The council has had heavy issues on its table for several years, for example Brexit, corona and war, says Vestre. Vestre: – Right to wait for the EU As long as the case is not fully dealt with, Norway will continue to use summer time and standard time. – It would be an advantage if Norway has the same time zone as our nearest neighboring countries. Therefore, I think it is right that Norway is waiting for a response from the EU. The reason we started setting the clock was because of energy saving. But recent research shows that the total energy savings today are marginal. Therefore, Norway is one of many countries in the EU that is in favor of phasing out the system of setting the clock, explains the minister. – The shift workers, families with small children and farmers are perhaps among those who find the clock setting the most challenging. I have great understanding of that, says Vestre. Photo: Mia Størksen / news – Always forget it On the street in Bergen, not many people have a complete overview of when the clock should be set or which way. – I always forget that it’s going to happen. I thought it was more stress than anything else, says Melina Kjelstad-Olsen. Magnus Nøkling, on the other hand, thinks normal time is lovely. – Then you get to sleep for another hour, he says and laughs. – Do you know which way the clock should be set? – It’s going to get darker, which means we’ll get another hour? Photo: Mia Størksen / news Silje-Marie Helland and Marte Iversen, on the other hand, believe that setting the clock twice a year is unnecessary stress. – It would have been good to have only one appointment, says Marte. – Do you know when the clock should be set? – Absolutely not, Silje-Marie laughs and laughs. Marte, on the other hand, has good control over when to set the clock. – It is two o’clock in the morning on Sunday, she says.
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End of summer time, but watchmaker Julian can’t bear to set all the clocks – news Vestland
