Less sleep but more daylight

                                         (Source: http://bestsellers.hu)

Snow, snow, snow...

A never-ending winter in spring. What is the reason for the unusually cold weather? The answer is in this article. Climate scientists have linked the massive snowstorms and bitter spring weather now being experienced across Britain and large parts of Europe and North America to the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice.

Because Easter is drawing near, people are building snowbunnies instead of snowmen.

The International Day of Happiness

is celebrated first time ever in the world today. 

The root of happiness is inside us. We should never allow our happiness depend on the circumstances or other people.

Let's smile and be happy not only on this day but always!

Happiness is a wonderful experience, it lies deep down inside
It’s like a sunflower; it follows the things you enjoy in your life
Happiness recovers you from dark cloudy days
Happiness is not a secret for you to keep
It should be shared with others, so they too can feel the joy that it brings
With happiness you can make a difference in life and to others
Remember happiness can be a healer. 
(Happiness by Orane Boothe)

Slowly but surely, life goes back to normal after the snowstorm in Hungary

According to the statement of the Directorate General for Disaster Management on 16 March 2013, the situation has improved but there are disruption. The Police is still asking people to stay home, stay warm and not to go by car. And people, who left their cars on the M1 motorway, are asked to call these telephone numbers: 06-34/517-790 or 06-20/224-27-22.
Motorways are mostly passable but, due to the snowdrifts and stranded cars, not everywhere. Rescue teams of the Disaster Management as well as volunteers are digging stranded cars and trucks out of the snow. It'll take some days to clean all roads, motorways, highways in the country.

Help and the latest info can be obtained at the "Segítsünk a bajban" (Let's Help in Trouble) Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/segitsunkabajban?ref=ts&fref=ts 
(http://translate.google.com/?hl=hu#hu/en/)

Live Traffic Info: http://www.motorway.hu/ 

Hungary - Snowstorm, 14-15 March 2013 

  

Hungary had witnessed a similar snowstorm on 15 March 1962

 

Hungary is under snow on the National Day

Hungary is celebrating the 1848 Revolution on this day. Even Google is commemorating this event with a Doodle illustration

(Source: https://www.google.hu/webhp?hl=hu&tab=ww)

However, all the open-air celebrations are cancelled due to the snowstorm.
Spring arrived with mild weather two weeks ago. People thought winter was over and changed their cars' winter tyres to summer ones. As a result, there are a lot of accidents due to the unexpected snow and icy weather. Many cars and buses are stranded on the roads and motorways. The passengers had to spend the night in their vehicles in the snowstorm. Though the rescue teams, including the Hungarian Military Forces with their special vehicles, are trying to reach and help every stranded cars, hundreds of people are still waiting for help on the roads.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is now sending SMS to people "We help!  Don't leave your vehicle! If you run out of fuel, sit into another vehicle!". If they had sent a warning SMS to the citizens a day earlier, before the snowstorm hit the country, perhaps less people would have been in trouble.
But it is good to see how many private persons offer their help and home to the people in trouble, and locals from the nearby villages bring food and drink to people who have been stranded in the snow.

Almost four years have gone by

since my last post. I did not forget about gifts from life. Many things happened since then, happy and sad things, good and bad experiences but these are all gifts from life because we can learn from them.  "...all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there." (Richard Bach)

An abandoned blogspot looks like a neglected old tomb with no flowers, no visitors. So it's high time to update my blog.

Summer time

Though summer is still far away, summer time or daylight saving time (DST) started in Hungary today. We had to adjust the clocks to summer time, i.e. 3:00 at 2 a.m. One hour is "stolen" from us but it will be "returned" to us on the last Sunday of October.

In Hungary, DST was first introduced on Sunday 30th April 1916. It was observed every year until 1920, then between 1941 and 1949 and between 1954 and 1957. After a long interval, it was reintroduced on Sunday 6th April 1980 and from that time on we use summer time every year.

How much energy can be saved in Hungary by switching the clocks forward? - About 2,000-4,000 megawatt hours (MWh) daily or about 5 billion HUF (about 21,364,500 USD) annually. It is not too much - approximately 2 USD per capita per year.

What kind of impact does DST have on us? It is quite annoying to move all our clocks forward and, in October, backward. We have to get up one hour earlier in the morning thus losing an hour of sleep. But some people say that sleeping at natural light is a waste of time. However, it takes some days or even weeks while our "inner" clock adjusts to the change. In the first days, the number of accidents increases because people are sleepy and tired. And the risk for heart attack is significantly higher during the transition period to DST. But we gain an extra hour daylight which has a good influence on our general mood. We can use this extra hour for outdoor acitivities that are good for our health.

There are many pros and cons of DST. Countries at or near the Equator have no such problem. They have their standard time all year round. They can't save any daylight by turning the clocks forward since daylight hours along the Equator are similar in every season.