We live in a country where ‘just now’ and ‘now now’ are generally accepted as measurements of time, but how about removing time measurements altogether?

The small Norwegian island of  Sommarøy – which means “Summer Island” – is looking to do just that, as they campaign to be the world’s first time-free zone.

Given that the island, which is north of the Arctic Circle, spends the period between May 18 and July 26 bathed in sunshine, perhaps it makes sense.

CNN reports:

The locals, having endured the long polar night from November to January, when the sun doesn’t rise at all, make the most of these precious months, with no regard to conventional timekeeping.

“There’s constantly daylight, and we act accordingly,” says islander Kjell Ove Hveding in a statement. “In the middle of the night, which city folk might call ‘2 a.m.,’ you can spot children playing soccer, people painting their houses or mowing their lawns, and teens going for a swim.”

Islanders gathered at a town hall meeting to sign a petition for a time-free zone and on June 13, Hveding met with a Norwegian member of parliament to hand over the locals’ signatures and to discuss the practical and legal challenges of the initiative.

“To many of us, getting this in writing would simply mean formalizing something we have been practicing for generations,” he says.

If the town is successful, they can be free of traditional opening hours, as well as introducing more flexible school and working hours.

That’s something that a few more Cape Town bosses could learn from, but let’s move along.

As soon as you cross the bridge from mainland to island, you’re met with this:

Those are abandoned wristwatches, as people “prepare for entry to the land time forgot”.

Let’s see a little video:

I like them. They had me at the moment they started smashing up that clock.

Some folks believe their campaign is merely an attempt to score some free publicity in the hopes of luring travellers in search of an endless summer.

Well, it’s working.

Good luck in your future endeavours, people of Sommarøy.

[source:cnn]