By Pepper Parr
March 11, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Here is the message I got – thought I would pass it along:
This Saturday night remember to SPRING FORWARD so you’re not late to church!
The fire department reminds people that this is a time to ensure that you change the batteries in your smoke alarms.
Today everyone understands that the way we record the time of day is, for the most part, done by everyone at the same time. It wasn’t always that way. There was a time when every municipality could set the clocks that way they wanted which played havoc with railway schedule. What was noon in one town was 1 pm in another.
A man named Sanford Fleming advocated for a system of time zones that would be applied to the whole world. Fleming didn’t get what he thought should exists but he was instrumental in bringing about a standardized system.
Sandford Fleming (in tallest hat) at the ceremony of the “last spike” being driven on the Canadian Pacific Railway. He advocated for the time recording system we use today.
Fleming was an incredible Canadian – he designed the first postage stamp and was at the ceremony where the last spike was driven into the tracks of the Canadian Pacific Railway that ran across the country.
