Extra dose of sunshine there for the taking

What industry is generally regarded as having the best potential for growth in SA? Not sure?

Well, it’s the tourist industry.

In spite of the dreadful publicity this country is currently enduring, we live in one of the most beautiful regions on earth.

Each year at this time I ask myself the same question: why are we still wasting two of the most valuable assets we have — time and sunshine?

At 5.30am from my bedroom window I gazed once again in wonder at the clear, still, sun-filled vista which stretched out before me to the glistening ocean beyond.

And while the sun, already high in the heavens, was bestowing its daily life-enhancing tonic upon mankind here on earth, where were we?

Still snoring with the bedclothes up to our necks!

Many years ago a body called the President’s Council wanted to know whether the people of SA wanted daylight saving.

Newspapers published a form on which readers were invited to say whether they were for or against the idea.

What the outcome of the questionnaire was I never discovered, but obviously things stayed the same.

The principle of daylight saving and its application is a simple and cost-free means of bringing clock time closer to the reality of sun time for approximately five months of the year.

Here in SA it would probably work like this: On a designated day, say the last Sunday of October, the media would remind the public to put their timepieces one hour forward.

Official clocks would all change at precisely midnight, and five months later, again on a predetermined day, we revert to standard time.

On Monday morning you would start the day at the usual time but you would find the sun a little lower than you expected.

No-one has interfered with established timetables.

Schools start, offices and factories open at the same clock time as before.

Now comes the pay-off. Leaving your workplace at normal closing time (you have worked no longer than usual) you will be delighted to find the sun higher in the sky than it was on the previous working day.

The hour of sunlight you “saved” in the morning is now yours to use as you please at the best time of the day for you — after work.

Not only will entities such as tourism and the leisure industry benefit considerably, but think of the boost to the economy; the saving in energy (lights and air conditioning are used less); the crime rate reduced (people get home in daylight); everyday occurrences like traffic accidents at the dangerous twilight time are minimised; productivity is stimulated and the general quality of life is enhanced.

Of course drawbacks would be inevitable, but 40% of the world’s population believe the positives outweigh the negatives — and for the record, so do I.

Charles Beningfield