>>>One thing I know for sure is that first Sunday after savings time ends, when it's suddenly an hour "earlier," it's a bummer looking outside and seeing it dark before 5 p.m.
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>>You're way too south. It's dark around 16:00 over here at winter solstice. We're a tad more north than Toronto.
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>It isn't much later than that here when it gets dark on the winter solstice. I meant when savings time ends,which is in October here.

Your winter day is still somewhat longer than here - which is just geometry, the way the sunshine hits your circle around Earth compared to ours.

The way the DST was gradually expanding over the years is ridiculous. I remember the first time they reverted clocks to normal here, in 1984 - it was 29th of September. Now it's two or three weeks later, and you got an extra week in the US (and, IIRC, Canada). Makes me think it's all the entertainment industry that's behind this, as the night falls later in our day, and people thus stay awake somewhat longer, having that extra hour of light in the evening, so they'll feel they have the time to do something they otherwise wouldn't - which always means spending some money.