"Simon Gardner" [dot]co[dot]uk> wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Peter H.M. Brooks" > wrote:
>
> > Lunch - Lunchtime (12h30)
>
> 12 noon in France 1pm in the UK and 2pm in Spain.
>
Depending on the time of year that's true - it is also about midnight in New
Zealand.

I suppose that the moral of the story is not to eat a Franch or Spanish
lunch in England. Contrariwise don't insist on lunchtime being 12h00 GMT
when you are visiting Auckland.

Mind you, I didn't specify that times were all to be in GMT, rather than
local time - I doubt it would work anyway.

In Spain, lunch starts at arount 13h30 and doesn't stop until 16h30 - if you
are with hard-working chaps who rush back to the office after a short lunch
break. So, if you are looking forward to your afternoon tea in Spain you do
have something of a problem - I suppose that, since they don't have supper
until about 22h30, you could fit in afternoon tea at about six.

On the other hand, if you mean that lunchtime is at those times in the
respective countries [a comma between France and 1 would have decided me on
that interpretation], then that seems a little late for the UK. Of course,
if you are off to the pub for lunch and want to be able to sit down then it
is wise to have your lunch a little earlier than everybody else, which might
be why I have always seen it as 12h30, or even 12h24 {to beat the 12h30
crowd}. The French probably need lunch by noon since the morning armagnac on
the way to work and the mid-morning beer will have worn off by then.


--
"Wherever tyranny has ruled, it has been with this insidious claim that the
status quo must not be questioned," - Bantu Holomisa