Daylight Saving Time — that time we set our clocks ahead by an hour — begins 2 a.m. Sunday.
For freeze-fatigued New Yorkers who have been through an epic season of snow, ice and miserly mercury, the extra hour of light at the end of the day can’t arrive soon enough.
“It’s been a freakin’ crazy winter!” exclaimed Joy Lenoir, 29, a sales rep who lives in the West Village. While Lenoir knows that an extra hour of light at the end of the day doesn’t guarantee instant spring, “it’ll be brighter — and we’ll feel brighter and happier,” she said. “I can’t wait to sit in the park and drink an iced coffee and to go to the beach,” Lenoir sighed.
Getting used to any time change, “is always a little tricky in the beginning, but I’m looking forward to it,” Upper West Side maintenance worker Bobby James, 29 said of the Sunday switch. “There will be more sun later in the day and more people will be out.”
“I like daytime more than nighttime,” so an extra hour of light when he leaves work at 6 p.m. will be a welcome respite from gloom, said William Lopez, 38, a fabric handler from the Grand Concourse area of the Bronx. Lopez, is most looking forward to the effect the time change will have on his two sons, ages 8 and 16. “Once there’s more daylight, the kids are more enthusiastic about staying outside,” and getting exercise, he said. “I don’t like it when they stay home and play video games all night long.”
While Lopez said New Yorkers would be nuts to break out the shorts and bathing suits, Lenoir insisted DST augers imminent sunny days and benevolent temps: “We just need to hang in for a little bit!”
The first day of spring is March 20.
