Right, so the other day I needed to figure out the actual time in Scotland. Had a mate over in Edinburgh I wanted to give a quick call, but didn’t want to wake him up ridiculously early or catch him right when he’s getting off work.
First thing I did, naturally, was reach for my phone. It’s usually the quickest way, isn’t it? Opened up my usual search engine.
My first search was pretty straightforward, something like “what time is it in Scotland right now”. Typed that straight in.
Got a bunch of results back pretty much instantly. Most of them just showed the time nice and big at the top. That’s handy. I saw the time displayed, but then I thought, hang on, is it always the same?
Checking the Zone
I remembered they have that Daylight Saving thing, like we do sometimes. So, I looked a bit closer at the results. Saw mentions of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) and BST (British Summer Time).
- Checked a couple of the results to see if they agreed on the time. They did.
- Noticed it explicitly said BST. That confirmed they were currently in their summer time schedule.
So, BST it was. That means they’re one hour ahead of GMT currently. Good to know. I quickly did the math in my head to compare it to my own time zone here. Confirmed the difference, figured out a good window to call him.
It’s much easier these days, really. Just a quick search and you’ve got it. No need to mess around with those old world clocks or try and remember complex rules. Just type it in and there it is. Sorted.