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I love the long summer evenings that daylight saving brings. Somehow, from the very first day the clock is wound forward it seems the weather warms up, the birds start chirping and the blossoms begin to open.

Like many other good New Zealand citizens, we set our clocks forward by an hour before turning in on Saturday night. Actually, we changed the living room clock, which keeps our whole family in sync. We also set the bedside alarm clock (allowing an extra little sleep-in to ease the transition), the clock on the stove and the clock on the microwave.

The computers reset themselves these days, although ever since a daylight saving adjustment a few years ago every birthday in my Calendar spans two days! But who am I to complain about two-day birthdays? And anyway I guess it could just be a helpful reminder for a belated greeting should I forget the first one ...

We also reset the several wristwatches we each have. And reminded the kids to change their alarm clocks and wristwatches. Oh, and mobile phones, And Ipods. And Ipads. And then we remembered we had not reset the time on our digital phones and the copier. Or the clock in the car. And when I took a photo today it had the wrong time displayed on the info so I had to reset the clock on the camera ...

No doubt I'll just have finished catching up with changing all the electronic appliances and it will be time to repeat the exercise! It does make one realise just how many "clocks" we have - and it makes me wonder if they are all necessary? And it did occur to me that maybe having fewer clocks would give us more time to get the important things done and be on time for those appointments! Maybe technology, in trying to be so helpful, is actually a hindrance!