Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Hey, Is This A Good Time To Call?

Note: we in the United States changed our clocks this past Sunday but the UK doesn't spring forward into British Summer Time until March 30 - until then, we're only 4 hours apart!

Back in the days when I was young and reckless - otherwise known as my senior year of college, when I was 21 in Manhattan and pining masochistically for someone in London - I realized something magical and dangerous about the time difference between EST and GMT: the later I stayed out partying, the more acceptable it would be to call my ex.

I don't just mean that I could convince myself that it was a good idea to call him after however many drinks, though that didn't help the situation, but that 4am in New York was 9am in England and that's a totally reasonable hour for the phone to ring!

(After I explained this logic to my friends, they made sure to confiscate both my phone and my laptop before nights out so that I couldn't call, text, or Skype the boy in question.  I had wonderfully supportive friends in college, don't you think?)

I'm sure that Jon's grateful to have missed those days, but we do still struggle with finding the best time to speak given our respective schedules and the five-hour time difference.  Thank goodness xkcd made this handy chart to help everyone who has friends and family scattered across the world!


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11 comments:

  1. I usually am 9 hours ahead of my family and it is horrible, well my grandparents are not so bad since they are retired by with my mom she is not usually ready to talk till I am going to bed.

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  2. That chart is fantastic!
    I had the hardest time on Sunday explaining to Gregory that I was suddenly only six hours behind instead of seven. I think he's still confused ;)

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  3. Most of my friends and family are 7 hours behind which means talking is relegated to the weekend for the most part! x

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  4. My family is 7 hours behind me so it is always difficult to talk much. I miss being able to call them up whenever, now talks have to be planned.

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  5. When I was in Hawaii, calling Nick was always a process too. I hate it when Spring daylight savings time changes because it makes the difference 3 hours instead of the easy 2, and that extra hour always makes such a difference!

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  6. 8 hours from Florida to Greece was torture; one of us would always end up staying up late and the other would be up to early and it made for very terrible, crabby, whiny our-long-distance-relationship-sucks conversation. And you're right, the 5 hour in the UK is no better. Harrumph!

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  7. When my family and I lived on the US west coast, which is three hours behind the east and eight hours behind the UK, Dad would get phone calls when we were all asleep and some of those people demanded to know why it took him several hours to phone back. :o The company he worked for had its head office in New England and had many British customers and the people in both those places all seemed to forget that the Pacific United States isn't on their timezones!

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  8. Can't deny that I'm loving the current 4-hour time difference between here and the UK! It might seem silly, but that hour makes it seem like he's less far away.

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  9. I need to send this to my folks. My sister is on Eastern Standard, I'm on Hawaii Standard, and my parents are in California.

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  10. What a handy chart! I didn't even think about you guys having that huge time change. You're such a trooper!

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  11. I thought it was a bit of an adjustment moving one time zone west, I can't imagine what it's like to be 4/5 hours apart! What a handy chart. I can't imagine how difficult this is for you guys!

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