Off the Grid

To the editor:
In the headline for The Long View “Summah People — Some Ahrn’t” [WWF Sept. 06] did one of those summah people sneak that “r” into “Ahn’t?” The article was pleasingly positive about summer people, without offending us natives.

The possibility of no ferry service to Digby, presented in “Efforts are underway to save Saint John-Digby ferry” [WWF Sept. 06] was sad. After stating that 100 workers have provided transportation for Nova Scotia businesses, the writer added American tourists “who don’t want the expenses of taking The Cat…” A look at a map will reveal that whence and thence one travels may explain the choice, aside from cost. From Houlton, Digby was simpler and more convenient.

Enough nitpicking. I am writing primarily to offer help to those who struggle with switching from Daylight Saving time to Eastern Standard Time. Last fall I resisted, keeping my inner clock on daylight time. I kept the talking watch beside my bed on DST, for waking and sleeping. All clocks in the house were changed, however, to avoid confusion. According to the clocks I was going to bed and getting up an hour earlier, frustrating friends who often called me late at night.

Reactions from others indicated that I was “off the grid” in more ways than one. But soon afterward I was reading a book, Summer Island, by Eliot Porter, the famous photographer. He wrote of his first stay on a Maine Island that his father bought as a place to take his family in the summer. “We set our clocks ahead before daylight-saving time had been devised in order to enjoy the daylight hours more fully.” I had found a whole family of kindred souls, albeit from 1912. Anyone care to join us? If not this fall, maybe next year…

Byrna Porter Weir
Rochester, New York