The subject is a bit like religion and politics....everyone has a view on it, but you will never win.

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

$0/

(min cost $0)

or signup to continue reading

Well, I received a couple of differing thoughts on Daylight Saving after last week’s column.

First of all, this one:

“For years I have read your column and have particularly found your twice yearly rant (yes, it is a rant) over daylight saving interesting.

But not once can I remember you actually explaining why you hate it (with such a venomous passion).

I for one absolutely LOVE it, always have.

But that would be more so now since becoming a farmer's wife.

While at school it was fantastic to come home at 4pm and still have around four hours of daylight to do things outside, hang washing etc.

And now living on a farm it is lovely.

I can come home from town late and feed animals, get the washing inside, the kids can play outside and burn some energy or spend time in their dad's workshop with him, or even do Monday night sheep work for Tuesday's sale.

It is particularly helpful for my husband who works as a tradesman until roughly 6pm.

He can come home and complete some farm jobs, he usually stays outside until complete dark at 9pm.

And I'd say he's not the only farmer handling two jobs.

So I guess my confusion as to why you hate it lies in the fact that you work all day.

Don't you like being able to come home in the afternoon and take a walk with the wife, do the gardening, cook a BBQ with sunlight, or even colourise the pegs as you collect the washing from the line?”

Fair comment indeed! And hard to disagree with.

Then I had another view from a very passionate anti-DS reader.

“I don’t see why they can’t just leave the time as it is.

“If the banks, schools etc want to change their hours of operation, so be it. Open at 8am and close at 4pm if they want the time at the end of the day.

“And we have more and more people on shift work these days. Our miners for example operate on 12 hour shifts so DS doesn’t affect them anyway.

“If we have to have DS, then surely we don’t have to have it six months of the year.”

Yep, it certainly is a subject which people can get quite passionate about.

As for me, I am resigned to the fact it is not going anywhere, but I strongly oppose it continuing for six months of the year.

That’s far too long.

I really enjoy the change of seasons and DS should not encroach on three of them!

- - - -

Oops, we have mucked up the names of a couple of really well known residents in the past couple of weeks.

We mixed up Pixie and Doro Tom in a photo, and then Middleton School principal, Sherree Rosser copped a couple of variations of her name.

There may have been others as well.

Readers, rightly so, have been strong in pointing these blunders out to us.

They shouldn’t happen - but we certainly don’t do them intentionally.

In some cases, when we make corrections to stories, we can muck it up.

So apologies - we’ll just have to work harder to make sure we eliminate such mistakes.

- - - -

Speaking of Sherree Rosser, she is stepping back from her wonderful career and taking some time to smell the roses.

40 years in education I think would feel like 100 years!

So I hope she really enjoys the extra time with family and getting her golf handicap down.

But what I think is also fantastic is that before she leaves the school, she (or the school) has given outstanding recognition to one of the real unsung heroes of the area, Barbara Osborne.

I have known Barb for many, many years, and she has always been toiling away behind the scenes - tirelessly - ensuring things go smoothly.

In my time, it was operating the hockey canteen for yonks, and then, the canteen and other activities at Middleton - for 41 years!!!

She probably looked after them both for some time.

Middleton has recognised this selfless woman by naming an area after her - the Barbara Osborne Learning Centre.

How fantastic is that!

I have said many times, we tend to leave recognition of magnificent service from our local residents too late - generally until after they have passed on.

There should be more of this type of recognition while the person themselves, and their family, can enjoy it.

So congratulations all round - to Barb and Sherree on fantastic efforts, and to Middleton for recognising them.

- - - -

And finally...

Technology is not one of my strong suits, so I hope you allow me this bit of indulgence.

I thought it was terrific and even though I have toned down the language a little, it clearly gets the message across. It certainly hit the mark with me anyway...

Please set a password to register.

cabbage

Sorry, the password must be more than 8 characters.

boiled cabbage

Sorry, the password must contain 1 numerical character.

1 boiled cabbage

Sorry, the password cannot have blank spaces.

50soddingboiledcabbages

Sorry, the password must contain at least one upper case character.

50SODDINGboiledcabbages

Sorry, the password cannot use more than one upper case character consecutively.

50SoddingBoiledCabbagesShovedUpYours,IfYouDon'tGiveMeAccessImmediately