How Did You Spend the 27th March?

On Sunday 27th March, as decreed by the authorities across Europe, we all had to put our clocks forward…..or rather we didn’t …. or at least not all of them.

This very confusing state of affairs was demonstrated by my computer, which complied with this directive, of its own accord, by the time I rose to make my first cup of coffee.

My iPod had also decided to march on one hour, so I went on an exploration to see if the microwave and oven had reset themselves. No, in these cases, it was necessary, once again, to reach for the instruction manual and refresh my brain on how to do this manually.

My mobile phone did not know of this change, but what do you expect from a phone that cost 3 Swiss Francs (£2) and only has 9 Swiss Francs of credit on it, at any one time.

The car was more of a problem. The clock moves ahead of its own volition, so after six months, it has just about reached the new correct time. In September, I will need to set it back two hours. Not only does it fail to keep good time, but is barely readable anyway, suffering from old age and general bloody mindedness.

What about the battery operated clock on the lounge bookcase? (I am not sure why we have one here, but we do.) This one too had to be manipulated by one of those little screws at the back. You know the ones, which you have to pull out and then turn, by which time you have forgotten the time, and have to go to the kitchen to check the time on the microwave.

Naturally, microwaves are the proper point of reference on matters to do with time keeping. “What’s the time?” “I am not sure. I’ll just check the microwave”. (Why not check with the battery clock in the lounge?)

I also have two of clocks that are synchronised by satellite. I have no idea how this works. Actually it doesn’t any more, at least not for the one that I brought with me from England 9 years ago. I think that the firm that sold these must have forgotten to pay their satellite fee, because I even have to correct this one myself. The Swiss one still seems to be OK for the time being….or is it the other way around?

As for the DVD player and recorder, this is even more confusing, as we used to keep this on English time, but now keep this on Swiss time, or is it on English time for 6 months of the year, and Swiss time for the other 6 months.

So there we have it. Have I forgotten any time pieces? As you can tell, I spent the whole day hunting down clocks and related user manuals, to restore chronological harmony back into the Hawker Household.

How did you spend your 27th March?