Then spring hits, and everything gets mildly unhinged. The UK switches to British Summer Time (BST), moving clocks forward by one hour. But here’s the kicker: Lanzarote stays put. The Canary Islands don’t observe daylight saving time in the same way mainland Spain does. So suddenly, when England is rocking BST, Lanzarote is still on WET. That means the time difference becomes one hour ahead for Lanzarote. England is behind. Yes, you read that right—for a few months, Britain is actually earlier than a Spanish island.
Let that sink in. You’re sitting in a pub in Birmingham at 9:00 p.m., and it’s already 10:00 p.m. in Lanzarote. The sun has set there. People are probably eating dinner or getting ready for a late-night dip. Meanwhile, you’re still nursing a half-pint and wondering if the chip shop is still open. It’s a strange, gentle flex from the Atlantic—like your cool friend who shows up late to the party just because they can.
A brief history of time(zones) or why do we keep changing the clocks
The Real-Life Impact: A Tale of Two Text Messages
I once had a friend ring me from Lanzarote while I was still in bed in London. “Why aren’t you up? It’s 11:30!” she shrieked. I grunted, “It’s 10:30 here, Susan.” She’d forgotten the time change. We had the classic “no, you’re wrong” argument that only ends when someone actually checks their phone’s clock. Then we laughed, but only after I’d spilled tea on my pillow. This is the kind of chaos that one hour can cause. It’s small, but it’s mighty.
And think about booking a transfer. You check your Ryanair flight details—landing at 14:35 local time in Lanzarote. You tell the transfer company, “I land at 14:35.” But your watch back in England might say 13:35. So you arrive at the airport terminal, bleary-eyed, and wonder why the driver is holding a sign that reads “Mr. Confused British Person.” Spoiler: that Mr. Confused is you.
