Quick question for any Sayers fans

[gryphonrhi]

What in the world is 'lighting-up' time? There's a reference to it in Busmen's Honeymoon, and another in one of the short stories, "Murder in the Morning." Despite the prevalence of smokers in Sayers' stories, somehow I doubt there was a daily time to light up a cigarette, which is how'd I see that used here in the States. Anyone know what this

Comments

[jilltanith]

I always assumed it was the time someone went out to light the streetlamps, in the days before they were all electric . . .

[gryphonrhi]

Pollyanna and AJ Hall cleared it up for me -- it's the time of day (set centrally, apparently, in England at that time) when your carlights had to be on. Thanks for the help!

[ltlj]

I think it refers to the time of evening when the street lamps were lit. That's what I always guessed it was, anyway.

[anglopollyanna]

An old-fashioned use - but I guess that would be valid for Sayers! - is the time that motor vehicles have to turn on their lights as dusk arrives.

[ltlj]

Okay, that makes much more sense in the context. Thanks for clearing that up.

[gryphonrhi]

::grinning:: Aren't LJ friends fun to have? You can ask strange questions and someone will know, or know whom to ask....

[gryphonrhi]

::nodding:: A village sans electricity for the BH reference, and a garage along a back road in the short story -- makes perfect sense to me, Polly. Thank you so much for the answer. ;-> I'd passed over the detail one time too many, and it was starting to annoy me that I still hadn't figured out an answer that made sense. So I asked. ::g::

[ex_ajhalluk585]

It's the time when it becomes compulsory for drivers to switch their headlights on (which, IIRC, is 1/2 hour after sunset on any given day as measured at a particular point in the UK - probably the Air Ministry in those days or the Royal Observatory Greenwich; the UK's latitude is such that this can vary by several hours from midsummer to midwinter, and in fact does vary by a minute or so from day to day (not that anyone does it by the minute, of course, but if one were pulled for driving without lights it would be useful to know the legal position). The point about legal lighting up time is that because it is based on a location in one part of the UK the amount of visible light and the time of sunset will vary in other parts of the country, so the garage in the short story had a useful clock face to remind drivers of the time they are legally obliged to comply.

[gryphonrhi]

Ah! Many thanks. It was just one of those things where I finally gave up and asked.