http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/woman-to-spend-three-days-putting-5000-clocks-back-an-hour
I woke at my usual time this morning. My usual time that is according to my body clock, which for many, many years, has determined that I should wake (all other things being equal) at any time between 04:00 and 05:00 every day, including weekends.. This morning, I woke at 04:15. I knew it was that time, because the little traveling clock, which has served well for a number of years, indicated such when the button on top was pressed to turn on the light to illuminate the digital face.
Apart from the sound of rain against the window, and the beginnings of the winds promised for later today, it was very quiet and peaceful.
Suddenly a cold and very disturbing feeling came to mind and I looked at the clock again. It now showed 04:22 and then I realised what had taken place over night. Some faceless shadowy set of bureaucrats or "administrators" somewhere in the dark recesses of some nondescript government building, had decreed that as from the night of 16th/27th October 2013, or more accurately 02:23 (or some equally ridiculous and arbitrary time set) on the 27th October, all the clocks in this Nation, on mantle pieces in all the homes, on cookers, on bedside cabinets and anywhere else that clocks may be located and including all wrist watches or other personal time pieces, must be put back by one hour.
Consequently, as I am one of those people who think that the ludicrous practice of changing the clocks by one hour in spring and autumn of every year is one of the most futile and pointless practices ever devised, particularly in peacetime, I muttered an unprintable word as the reality dawned that it was, at least according to the BBC and probably a few million people in Great Britain, only 03:22. I muttered a few more obscenities and got up. Trying to go back to sleep is not an option, as it has never been successful over the years and only results in a headache and irritability for hours.
This disruption of my sleeping patterns will last over the coming months (as it invariably does) and continue until sanity returns to the country sometime in March of next year, when the clocks return to their proper settings and we put the stolen hour back on. In the meantime, my bedside clock will remain set to BST (as will the clock on my car's dashboard) as an act of defiance to the absurd custom of time manipulation we indulge in on two occasions every year.
As for Mrs Pauline West and her 5000 odd clocks, watches and assorted time pieces, is it really necessary to have them all working and all telling the same time? It is little wonder that it takes three days, twice a year to change them all.
A most futile and pointless practice.
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I woke at my usual time this morning. My usual time that is according to my body clock, which for many, many years, has determined that I should wake (all other things being equal) at any time between 04:00 and 05:00 every day, including weekends.. This morning, I woke at 04:15. I knew it was that time, because the little traveling clock, which has served well for a number of years, indicated such when the button on top was pressed to turn on the light to illuminate the digital face.
Apart from the sound of rain against the window, and the beginnings of the winds promised for later today, it was very quiet and peaceful.
Suddenly a cold and very disturbing feeling came to mind and I looked at the clock again. It now showed 04:22 and then I realised what had taken place over night. Some faceless shadowy set of bureaucrats or "administrators" somewhere in the dark recesses of some nondescript government building, had decreed that as from the night of 16th/27th October 2013, or more accurately 02:23 (or some equally ridiculous and arbitrary time set) on the 27th October, all the clocks in this Nation, on mantle pieces in all the homes, on cookers, on bedside cabinets and anywhere else that clocks may be located and including all wrist watches or other personal time pieces, must be put back by one hour.
Consequently, as I am one of those people who think that the ludicrous practice of changing the clocks by one hour in spring and autumn of every year is one of the most futile and pointless practices ever devised, particularly in peacetime, I muttered an unprintable word as the reality dawned that it was, at least according to the BBC and probably a few million people in Great Britain, only 03:22. I muttered a few more obscenities and got up. Trying to go back to sleep is not an option, as it has never been successful over the years and only results in a headache and irritability for hours.
This disruption of my sleeping patterns will last over the coming months (as it invariably does) and continue until sanity returns to the country sometime in March of next year, when the clocks return to their proper settings and we put the stolen hour back on. In the meantime, my bedside clock will remain set to BST (as will the clock on my car's dashboard) as an act of defiance to the absurd custom of time manipulation we indulge in on two occasions every year.
![Pauline West with some of her 5,000 clocks. Image: Rex, Solent News]({"default":"http://db2.stb.s-msn.com/i/72/cc25ac4744eacd33f255472c727b5/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg"}) |
| Pauline West with some of her 5,000 clocks. |
As for Mrs Pauline West and her 5000 odd clocks, watches and assorted time pieces, is it really necessary to have them all working and all telling the same time? It is little wonder that it takes three days, twice a year to change them all.
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