I do like the later sunsets that we get from Daylight Saving Time, but overall, I've noticed that I don't get as excited about DST as I used to when I was younger. I think it's actually more of a symbolic thing actually, than the later sunsets. It was always a sign that Spring was here (or in later years, after they adjusted the start and end times, right around the corner). And that summer would soon be here, and the freedom that comes with it. Once you get out of the summer vacation cycle of school, and thrown into the working world, the concept of "summer vacation" becomes less relevant, perhaps, but I think it often stays ingrained in the subconscious.
Just like snow days. It's actually snowing here right now, and I do feel my inner child getting a bit giddy. In the overall scheme of things, it still means nothing. It's not getting me out of school, or work. And it's probably not going to amount to enough of a snowfall to go out and play in it. But I do feel that nostalgia creeping in.
Back to DST...now that I've been working from home for almost two years...and for a couple years before that, altering my schedule where I'd usually duck out of the office around noon two days per week, it doesn't seem so important. I used to like it, because of those precious few hours in the evening, after I got off work, where I could be outside and doing something. And getting some extra daylight, after being cooped up in a windowless office. But now, I'm always up before the sun anyway, and I'm always awake when it sets, and working from home I basically get the full exposure of daylight.
So, at the peak of the season, I'm soaking in the full 16-17 hours or whatever of daylight, no matter what time the sun rises and sets. Whereas when I worked in an office, adding an extra hour of daylight after getting out of work, on top of the few that I already had, seemed like a big deal.
One advantage of DST though, I guess, relates to where I currently live. There's fairly big hill with some tall trees on it to the West of my yard, as well as some tall pine trees along the property line. Even during the peak of summer, it seems like the shadows start to creep across the swimming pool around 4 or so, and by 5:30, it's mostly in shadow. There's one gap in the pine trees, where one of them had died, and you can see the Sun through there for a a bit, but by 7 pm, it's disappeared. It may still be light out until 9 pm, but once those shadows start creeping across the pool, it just feels like evening's coming on fast. So, without DST, it would start feeling like "evening" around 3 pm instead of 4! And, even in the hottest part of summer, it seems like once the shadows hit that pool, it cools down fast.
