Remote fishing village is the only place in the world ‘without time’

Imagine living in a world where no one follows the concept of time. The day would never start, the day would never end – and you would never run late to anything.

It sounds like something from a science fiction movie, but for the people of Sommarøy, this is actually how life is.

The sun doesn’t set for 69 days each year in the tiny fishing village in Norway.

Home to just 300 people, the island’s residents have chosen not to live by strict time conventions* and instead “do what they want — when they want”.

Sommarøy, meaning “summer island” has constant sunlight between May 18 to July 26 every year because of its location north of the Arctic Circle*.

Countries in the Arctic Circle experience a natural phenomenon known as the Midnight Sun where the sun doesn’t set for weeks, and sometimes even months, at a time. Earth rotates on a tilted axis relative to the sun. During summer, the North Pole is angled towards the sun, leading to constant sunlight.

Because of this phenomenon, people living in Sommarøy can walk across the sandy beaches at 2am or stroll among the Arctic mountains while others are sleeping.

Due to its northern location, however, it hardly ever gets warm in Sommarøy, with average temperatures between seven and 15 degrees Celsius.

But the summer days of constant sunshine have a downside – in the winter, the midnight sun is replaced by constant darkness, which occurs between November and January.

However, the long, freezing polar nights* are perfect for seeing the aurora borealis*, or Northern Lights, which can light up the sky at any time during the “day” or “night”.

The island’s economy depends on fishing and tourism, with visitors attracted to the hiking, swimming and kayaking on offer.

TIME FREE ZONE
Due to its unusual daylight hours, Sommarøy has come to exist without the normal time constraints* most of the world faces.

In fact, the iconic* Sommarøy Bridge, which is used as a way to access the island, has become covered in watches from visitors, who want to ditch the concept of time while on the island.

In 2019, the inhabitants launched a campaign to make Sommarøy “time free”.

“In many cases this can be linked to the feeling of being trapped by the clock”, ” Kjell Ove Hveding, the leader of the campaign said.

“We will be a time-free zone where everyone can live their lives to the fullest … Our goal is to provide full flexibility, 24/7.

“If you want to cut the lawn at 4am, then you can do it.”

The campaign called for opening hours to be thrown out, and for people to be allowed to do whatever they liked at any time of day.

Residents of the island said: “Here we enjoy every minute of the midnight sun, and yes, a coffee with friends on the beach at 2am is a normal thing.”

It was later revealed that the campaign was partly a marketing scheme by Visit Norway, to boost tourism to the island.

However, the island’s residents did have a meeting to sign a petition to become the world’s first time-free zone, revealing their unique attitude to time was real.

“We apologise as we should have been (clearer) from the start about the role of the agency”, Marianne Mork, former head of business communications for Visit Norway, told CNN.

“However, the initiative is real and came from the islanders themselves, and their time-free way of living is real.”

WHO DECIDES WHAT TIME IT IS?
The way of life in Sommarøy is quite different to the rest of the world where time is measured right down to the second. But who decides what time it actually is?

According to the Royal Museums Greenwich, Greenwich in England became the home of world time back in 1884 when the Greenwich Meridian*, a meridian line running from the North to South Pole that represented zero Degrees longitude* to the people of the UK was adopted by the rest of the world.

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is basically the yearly average (mean) of the time that the sun crosses the Greenwich Meridian each day. Also known as the Prime Meridian, this is marked out by a metal line in the courtyard of the Royal Observatory.

GMT was used as the world standard of time from 1884 until 1972, when it was renamed Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

WORLD TIME ZONES
Here are some of the main time zones across the world:

UTC Universal Coordinated Time

ECT European Central Time (UTC+1:00)

EET Eastern European Time (UTC+2:00)

ART (Arabic) Egypt Standard Time (UTC+2:00)

EAT Eastern African Time (UTC+3:00)

MET Middle East Time (UTC+3:30)

NET Near East Time (UTC+4:00)

PLT Pakistan Lahore Time (UTC+5:00)

IST India Standard Time (UTC+5:30)

BST Bangladesh Standard Time (UTC+6:00)

VST Vietnam Standard Time (UTC+7:00)

CTT China Taiwan Time (UTC+8:00)

JST Japan Standard Time (GMT+9:00)

ACT Australia Central Time (UTC+9:30)

AET Australia Eastern Time (UTC+10:00)

SST Solomon Standard Time (UTC+11:00)

NST New Zealand Standard Time (UTC+12:00)

MIT Midway Islands Time (UTC-11:00)

HST Hawaii Standard Time (UTC-10:00)

AST Alaska Standard Time (UTC-9:00)

PST Pacific Standard Time (UTC-8:00)

PNT Phoenix Standard Time (UTC-7:00)

MST Mountain Standard Time (UTC-7:00)

CST Central Standard Time (UTC-6:00)

EST Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5:00)

IET Indiana Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5:00)

PRT Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands Time (UTC-4:00)

CNT Canada Newfoundland Time (UTC-3:30)

AGT Argentina Standard Time (UTC-3:00)

BET Brazil Eastern Time (UTC-3:00)

CAT Central African Time (UTC-1:00)

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission

POLL

GLOSSARY

• time conventions: the agreement of what time it is and what is acceptable to do at different times of the day and night according to the shared rules of society
• Arctic Circle: the most northern circle of latitude on the globe
• polar nights: the period during winter where the sun doesn’t rise and it feels like night time for weeks or months at a time
• aurora borealis: the Northern Lights, a light display in the sky usually seen close to the Arctic, and caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with the gases of Earth’s upper atmosphere
• constraints: limitations
• iconic: symbolic of a place, culture or movement
• meridian: a circle of longitude that passes through the Earth’s poles
• longitude: measurement in angle from the Prime Meridian, which divides east from west and divides the Earth. The Prime Meridian has a longitude of 0 degrees

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QUICK QUIZ
1. Why doesn’t the sun set for 69 days each year in Sommarøy?
2. How long does the polar night last in winter?
3. Why is the Sommarøy Bridge covered in watches?
4. When was the campaign to make Sommarøy “time-free” launched?
5. What are Sommarøy’s average summer temperatures?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Sommarøy store
Despite the relaxed attitude to “time,” residents and visitors of Sommarøy still need to go about normal human activities. Due to the non-stop light or dark at various times of the year, people might need some special supplies. If you were the owner of a store in Sommarøy, what are some items you might stock in your store that people could find useful to navigate the unique challenges of this location?

Draw a picture of a shop display promoting these items.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Usually when we need to go somewhere or meet up with someone, we organise to arrive at a specific time of day. This becomes quite a challenge when clocks, watches and the concept of “time” is discarded.

Work with a friend and see how many different ways you can think of, that 2 friends who live at different ends of the village could arrange to meet up, without either of them wasting a lot of time waiting around for the other. Challenge yourself to think beyond the obvious – the more creative and crazier the ideas, the better!

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
I spy nouns
Nouns are places, names (of people and objects), and time (months or days of the week).

How many nouns can you find in the article?

Can you sort them into places, names and time?

Pick three nouns and add an adjective (describing word) to the nouns.