Won't somebody think of the cows???

Okay, so every day my confidence in the intelligence of the average Western Australian is dropping. It's not bad enough that they don't know how to drive (although I'm yet to be convinced that driving here is any less safe than in Victoria where everyone is just rude and arrogant on the road.... but that's another story).

Anyway, the latest hot-button topic over here is *drumroll* Daylight Saving. Given that most of my readership is the best part of a continent away, you're probably wondering what the big deal is. Over there as I understand it, it's a fairly accepted thing. "Hey, let's have an extra hour of sunlight at night so we can do stuff!". Over here? Oh no. It comes up because a policitian raises it, and instantly we have the anti-daylight-saving troopers predicting the end of the world if they dare to fiddle with our clocks. Or, even worse, the curtains might fade.

The most vocal anti-daylight-saving group to emerge this time around has been the dairy farmers. Apparently the sun rising an hour later will make the poor cows all confused and they'll stop giving milk. Well, free clue to the cow brigade: don't tell the cows and they'll probably not notice. Then again, as one dairy farmer so eloquently put it on the news the other night: "if it feels like 1pm when it's really 3 o'clock...". I think the cow brigade should start worrying more about the state of their accounts than what time it happens to say on the clock when the sun comes up if they can't figure out what happens when we add one hour.

So, how about some other friends of the cow brigade?

"We don't want to be like the eastern states! It's just copying them!"
You know what? I heard the other day that Melbourne has a freeway. Oh no, we don't want to be like them! Rip up ours! And Sydney has some beaches! Quick, build a big wall along the coast so no one knows we're like them!

"All you people who want to spend more time with your family in the evening are just selfish!"
Usually said by someone who also talks about how they love to go for a walk in the early morning by themselves. Enough said?

"Western Australians already said no in a referendum! NO MEANS NO!"
This Western Australian didn't. Probably because this Western Australian was 8 years old at the time of the last referendum (which was only defeated very narrowly, I might add). I'm pretty sure there's an entire generation now at voting age who think like me. Oh, and you want to tell me that everyone who voted no at the last one still feels the same way after 15 years? Pretty sure they all don't, especially when several people have been quoted as saying they've changed their minds. And obviously WA hasn't changed at all in the last 15 years.


The one argument against Daylight Saving that holds some merit is that for young families, it can be hard for kids to sleep when it's light outside. Okay, I'll pay that. But I just ask what you do when the sun comes up at 4am and so do the kids?


Rant over. I'm just annoyed that the opportunity for something great like DST which will mean more opportunity to do more stuff at night over summer (as well as not being 3 hours behind the eastern states which is just annoying) is looking like it could be held up by the lobbying from the cow brigade and friends' udder stupidity like this.




And, as a free bonus with this blog post only...
3 tips from Jas for surviving daylight saving
1. Take your curtains down so they don't fade from an extra hour of sunlight every day.
2. Move your potplants further into the light to make sure they get enough morning sun.
3. Stock up on milk and eggs, because the cows and chickens might get confused by the time change and stop producing.