Soundtrack in my head: The Ramones, “Time Has Come Today”

How does that saying go?  Spring forward, fall asleep at your desk? My body was complaining loudly about the time change at work today, and I couldn’t wait to get home.

When I was a kid, daylight savings time began in late April and concluded in early October. That was always kind of nice because it was usually pretty warm out, and I’d find myself able to play outside after dinner. Then at some point it was moved to early April and late October, which I liked because it made spring seem to arrive earlier.

Then last year, they changed it to the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. Now, it’s kind of weird. It would take a lot of creative imagination to look outside and say that we have spring weather. I guess before, I had the nice weather to help me feel better about the fact that I lost an hour on the weekend, which despite my best-laid plans, usually meant losing an hour of sleep. It may now be daylight almost all the way to 7 p.m., with it being light out for a while beyond that, but we still have three-foot snowdrifts colored an ugly gray from soot, dirt, and car exhaust. Hmmm—not exactly a place I want to frolic.

But things are supposed to melt this week. As the temperatures hover between the mid-20’s and mid-40’s this week, we’ll be enjoying a veritable slush canal on the front sidewalk as the snow melts. That’s because the city plows have been piling the snow higher and higher on our front lawn, and the space between the sidewalk and the street can’t be much more than three feet wide. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll actually see the ground under the snow by week’s end. One can only hope…