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Comment by jrbancel | Hacker News Reader

The fact that most of Europe is in the same timezone is disturbing. I remember visiting Budapest (East of the timezone), coming from Bordeaux (West of the timezone), and noticing how much earlier (1h30) dusk was.

I wonder if it has an impact on the mood of the inhabitants.

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Having lived in all 3 countries, I can tell you that Austrians (roughly centred on solar time, and Vienna, 1/4 of the country's population in one city, almost half an hour ahead of solar) are very much early risers compared to Spaniards. (the eastern part of Spain is almost 1 hour behind solar, most of the country even more so) Opening times of shops reflect that; it's not unusual for supermarkets in Spain to open at 9:00, while in Austria 7:30 is probably the most common. The evening meal is generally also consumed much later (clock time) in Spain. The UK is somewhere in between, which again fits with the solar time offset.

Drawing any conclusions beyond that is frought with the peril of confounding factors…

Indeed: I once walked into a restaurant in Spain and was told they were not yet open for dinner. The time was 8 pm.

There's a story about Spain.

Spain used to be in the same timezone as the UK. It made sense, as the Greenwich Meridian crosses the east of the Iberian Peninsula. But in 1942, the fascist dictator Franco decided to use the same timezone as the Nazi Germany and adopted the continental timezone (GMT+1).

The fun part of the story is that, as the Sun didn't actually move, the people kept doing their life at the same moments as before. That's why nowadays in Spain is usual to have lunch at 14 and dinner at 22. Specially in the West.

I'm pretty sure it has. I always feel jet-lagged in Paris, in a way I never felt in London or Berlin (both closer to their solar noon). Also felt deeply unwell in Bilbao (although the city's so brilliant). The most noticeable thing is that 7am is night time about half the year in Paris (from October to April) when it's at least dusk in London all year long (maybe not in December).

It's pretty clear that Paris is less of a morning-city than London.

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