Tradition

So many things are justified in the name of Tradition (you can pause here and go watch the tradition sequence from Fiddler on the Roof if you so desire).

Anyway, Daylight Savings Time is almost upon us, and each year the clamour grows louder that this is one tradition that should be scrapped.  Here is a recent article claiming that the evidence is even greater that this is a bad idea.  I don't have really strong feelings one way or the other, though I do find it fairly disruptive.  On the whole, I would prefer to stick to a single time and not keep shifting clocks.

While I don't really think they will get rid of Daylight Savings Time, I will say that in general Canada is marginally better at getting rid of traditional things that no longer make sense (like the penny) than the U.S.  I can vaguely believe Canada (or individual provinces*) will move off of Daylight Savings Time, but I don't believe that any U.S. state that currently has DST (there are still a few hold outs) will move off of it.

What I really would like to see, however, is that Spring Break be moved back by two weeks until it is at the end of March.  I've always thought it was ridiculous to be in mid March, since most people do not get to travel far south, and it is kind of miserable in mid March and late March is always nicer.  So that is one tradition I would gladly upend if it were up to me.**

Another Toronto tradition that I just hate is how they reroute the streetcars off King St. for the opening week of the TIFF festival.  I think it is completely unjustified (as is most of Toronto's pathetic handling of streetcar diversions due to construction).  Last year, the Queen streetcar was already shut down for most of the summer, though just past Spadina.  This summer, the central piece is being completely eliminated, and we'll just be on buses.  Add to that, they are supposed to be conducting a special pilot on King St. to make the streetcars move more efficiently.  If TIFF officials ask (and Tory agrees) to reroute the King streetcar this summer, I will boycott the TIFF festival for at least the next 10 years.  (I am drawing a distinction between the festival and the year-round films at TIFF Lightbox.)

* Sure enough, there is fairly strong support in Alberta to move away from the twice annual changing of the clocks, though in this case, they might stick with the D.S.T. time and move off Standard Time.  Though I'll suspend judgment until this bill actually makes it into law.

** I have a particular reason to be bitter this year (about the stupidness of a mid-March break) as the last snowstorm of the year has caused all kinds of havoc.  It doesn't look like we'll get all the snow that was forecast, but so many of the flights from Toronto were going through the path of the storm (or trying to transfer in New York) that my flight was cancelled a day in advance and the alternatives were simply ridiculous, so I pushed back and managed to get a complete refund, so we're not going anywhere at all.  Grrr.