Autumn is the best season in Canberra. Don't even argue with me.
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The crisp, cool mornings and the still, (usually) sunny days are perfection. Coupled with the end of daylight savings when we can get back to a more natural early-to-bed-early-to-rise pattern, it's the best.
This year, FYI, daylight savings ends on Sunday, April 3 when we put our clocks back an hour. Thank. God.
Yes, it's nice to have extended hours of sunshine in summer, but, really, let's end it on March 1, the start of autumn, and get straight into the season of cosiness.
Because, in news that will chill the heart of anyone who wants to stop the curtains from fading (that's a joke, Joyce), the US Senate has just passed legislation to make daylight savings permanent across the United States from 2023, with and end to the twice-yearly changing of the clocks.
The very twee-named Sunshine Protection Act still has to be passed by the House of Representatives and signed off by President Joe Biden but it has attracted widespread bipartisan support.
If written into law, the change would be an extra hour of sunshine at the end of summer evenings and an extra hour of darkness at the start of winter mornings.
The US media has reported that in some states, permanent daylight savings could mean the sun will not rise until after 7am for much of the year. But it also means fewer people will be arriving home in the dark at the end of the day after work or school.
Good for them.
I personally hope permanent daylight savings never happens in Australia. It's hard enough now to get kids to bed when the sun is still shining at 9pm. Let's follow our body's natural rhythms and enjoy that early evening darkness and early morning light. It just feels better.
And, on another tangent altogether, autumn is wonderful because it means the start of awards season and I do love me a good Oscars telecast, no matter how many hours it takes.
I love the fashion, the glam, the occasional unscripted moment of true emotion - usually courtesy of some obscure documentary maker who is trying to thank his family as the wind-it-up music starts blaring over his tears of gratitude.
This year's Oscars are on Monday, March 28 (Australian time); spring in Hollywood, autumn Down Under.
Back in the day, I used to take the day off work to watch the Oscars live on the telly in the middle of the day. Or if I couldn't do that, I'd avoid all radio broadcasts and news reports until I could watch the replay that night. Of course, with social media now it's almost impossible to not know the full list of winners by lunchtime. And hear the speeches. Oh, Lordy, the speeches.
In the lead-up to this year's Academy Awards, RantCasino looked at what were the most-watched Oscar acceptance speeches of all time.
No. 1 was apparently Leonardo DiCaprio's speech in 2016 after winning Best Actor for his role in The Revenant. The speech has had an eye-watering 47.871 million views. More than 20 million more than the next most-watched speech by Matthew McConaughey for winning Best Actor for the Dallas Buyers Club in 2014.
To be honest, I had to Google Leo's speech. Could not even recall it. The top 10 speeches were just as boring, mostly from the last 13 years except for Roberto Benigni leaping over chairs in 1999 to accept his Best Actor gong for Life is Beautiful and Charlie Chaplin in 1972 for his Lifetime Achievement Oscar. Did Natalie Portman, Eddie Redmayne, Jennifer Lawrence really give speeches worthy of a top 10 spot?
Watching back Leo's speech, it was lovely to see him getting due recognition. He kissed his mum. The crowd of Hollywood A-listers whooped and cheered. But, my goodness, the speech was boring, another earnest rant about climate change.
By contrast, whenever I think of the Oscars, I think of Jim Carrey 20 years earlier in 1996 presenting the Academy Award for cinematography, pricking all of Hollywood's pretensions.
"I know you people don't like when guys get up here and espouse their political beliefs. I just want to say one thing: 'Viva El Salvador!'." Still hilarious.
And then as he opened the envelope, Carrey taunted: "Who will take home the Lord of All Knick Knacks?". Ahh, so good. So facetious.
Don't expect too much of that at the 94th Academy Awards next month. It will, no doubt, be Very Serious.