Despite winter seeming to drag on interminably, somewhere in the future summer is waiting, ready to turn to us with its warm embrace.
The first indication of this distant beam of light is that British Summer Time is on its way, bringing a little more light to your day.
The clocks are set to go forward, providing an extra hour of glorious daylight in the evening. However this pleasant change comes at the cost of an hour.
To help you prepare for the clocks moving forward thanks to Daylight Savings, here is our quick guide:
1. When are the clocks going forward?
Clocks will go forward one hour at 1am on Sunday, 31 March.
For those worrying about forgetting – set up reminders. Put up post-it notes in the kitchen, use a red pen to circle the day on the calendar and consider setting an alarm on your phone.
If you have a smartphone, check you have set its clock to update automatically.
On the preceding Saturday evening it is also wise to mentally prepare for the crushing disappointment of a shortened lie-in on Sunday morning.
2. How will this affect me?
Other than that initial loss of an hour – the extra hour of daylight should be entirely pleasant.
However, if you are planning to travel or Skype someone abroad keep this in mind that we will no longer be in Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) but British Summer Time (BST) which is sometimes labelled as GMT+1.
As if time zones were not complicated enough.
3. When will the clocks plunge us back into darkness again?
We will lose an hour and return to GMT on Sunday, 28 October at 2am.
This is the perfect time to plan an extended Saturday night out to bid farewell to daylight.
4. Why was Daylight Savings introduced?
In the UK, Daylight Savings time was officially introduced following The Summer Time Act of 1916.
The law followed a campaign by builder William Willett – the great great grandfather of Coldplay singer Chris Martin – and who was a lifelong advocate for Daylight Savings.
He believed that during summer it would save on energy costs and enable people to have more recreation time outdoors.
“Everyone appreciates the long light evenings,” Mr Willet wrote in 1907.
“Everyone laments their shrinkage as the days grow shorter, and nearly everyone has given utterance to a regret that the clear bright light of early mornings, during spring and summer months, is so seldom seen or used.”
However, the need for increased labour during the First World War is thought to be the main reason the government made Daylight Savings law.
