The perils of the winter clock are in the news once again. Turning the clock back by one hour does not seem to be very much, but it is still confusing to quite a few. The body clock is the main problem, as ever. Neither my beloved nor I could sleep past seven this morning. Our bodies told us it was eight already, and she was supposed to get up and go to her office. The way it turned out, she got there way ahead of time. Not surprisingly, Dmitry Medvedev’s comment a couple of years ago still rings the bell: even cows get confused by the winter clock because they get milked an hour earlier than usual. Which is why the then Russian president abolished the winter clock at the time. Indeed, this morning I feel like a confused cow. I showed up in one of my favorite watering holes in Zagreb a whole hour earlier than the clock suggested. The place was not fully open by then, but I was there exactly on time as far as my body clock was concerned. And I wanted my drink right then and there. I am not sure whether or not the winter clock makes any economic or other sense, but I am with Medvedev this morning. Mooo!

Addendum (October 28, 2020)

The clock was turned back by one hour once again three days ago. But this seems to be the very last time the clock will be turned either way in Croatia and the rest of the European Union. It appears that the Union is about to abandon daylight savings time once and for all. The news made me happy, but I was surprised to hear that the winter clock would be kept from now on. For some reason, I thought that the summer clock was, as it were, normal. Not convinced of this verdict, I waited for noon last Sunday, when the sky was clear of clouds. I wanted to make sure that the sun was exactly to the south of Motovun at that time. Looking for the right spot on the upper square, I suddenly remembered the sundial on the southern flank of Saint Stephen’s church, whose front is facing west. Amazingly enough, the sundial showed twelve o’clock exactly at noon. Made several centuries ago, the device showed beyond any doubt that the winter clock was the normal one. Delighted by my discovery, I pointed at the sundial to everyone I knew. And everyone was pleased to see it, too. With some luck, the sundial on the church will be our guide from now on. There will be no more confused cows on top of the Motovun hill!