Goodbye GMT and hellllooooooo BST - at last, and what a lovely spring day - but beware, snow forecast for us 'up north' next week. Check the Met Office website if you don't believe me."Time is," "Time was," "Time's past."*
Although I've never met anyone who turned up at work late or early because they hadn't adjusted their watches and clocks, there must be some confusion around this issue. We still get a lot of reminders on the media to put the clocks back in the autumn or forward in the spring which I'm grateful for and I usually find one clock that I've missed somewhere in the house.
I thought I'd count the number of 'things' in the house that give the time... and surprisingly it turned out to be 23, comprised of:
Computer - 1
Mantle clock - 1
Wall clocks - 2
Alarm clocks - 5
DVD - 2
Microwave - 1
Cooker - 1
Watches - 5
Mobile phones - 5
If you count cars, it's even more. By the way - I'm not obsessed by mobile phones, alarm clocks or watches - there's five of us in the house today. The problem for me is I have no idea how to change the cooker or microwave clocks without referring to the manuals because the buttons are multifunctional and there's no obvious 'clock button.' I got up this morning and my better half had already done those two thank goodness.
We're generally concerned about time I guess, we live our lives, well most of us anyway regulated by time, when we start work, how long we can have for lunch, when the TV programme starts and I'm pretty hot on being anywhere I have to be before the time allotted. Personally I hate to be late. Some people I know don't give a bugger about time, it means nothing to them that they are late and hold things up and don't even apologise because time is irrelevant.
I heard a moving account the other day of a woman whose father died and there was an important family event and on his death bed the father commented what he would give for another day on earth in order to witness that event. Sadly it was not to be for that family, but shows how time can be crucial for some.
As someone who lives in the 'now' where memories are unalterable and a thing of the past, not existing anymore, (like the future, it doesn't actually exist at this moment in time), planning ahead is important to give some order to my life; some continuity of purpose, a routine to look forward to - in other words to make maximum use of the relatively little time we are allotted on this earth.
Wow, Sunday morning philosophy class over!
Today's story keeps with the theme of time.
A company rep was still a long way from home after an already exhausting car journey down the length of the country so he decided that he needed a nap to make sure he didn't fall asleep at the wheel. As he was just dozing off in a lay-by there came a knock at the car door. Jolting upright, the rep wound down the window and a woman dressed in jogging gear said, "Excuse me, do you have the time?"
"Eight thirty," replied the exhausted rep. He settled down and was just nodding off when another rapping on the window brought him back to his senses. This time a male jogger asked, "Sorry to bother you, can you tell me the time?"
Somewhat fractious, the rep barked out, "Eight thirty seven!" After struggling to get comfortable in his car and just starting to doze, another loud knocking on the window made him jump. Yet another jogger asked the time. "Eight forty!"
Frustrated, angry and past himself, he wrote a note saying, "I don't know the bloody time!" and stuck it on his window. Just as he was falling into a deep sleep he was startled awake by a loud knocking on his window. He wearily wound it down and a jogger said, "It's eight fifty."
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Chat soon
Ta-ra.
*This is a quote from a legendary brass speaking head, the 'Brazen Head' fabled to have been made by Roger Bacon, many centuries ago.
