TIME
Time and tide wait for no man. Einstein says we all have the same amount of time. People have been recording time since Sumerian times. Sand clocks. Sundials. Watching the sun, the moon and the stars. Back in biblical times, and still done by Orthodox Jews today, you verify that the Sabbath starts when you can see three stars.
When you are walking around when it gets dark you go home because you trip over in the dark, bump into things, lose your way and feel tired when it's dark. (Of course animals are mostly nocturnal, so it's safer to stay home at night, especially as they are adapted to seeing in the dark, whilst humans are adapted to living in the day.
If you want to fall asleep, shut off noises and light. On a airplane those in charge pull down the blinds. In first class and on some planes in economy class you are given eyeshades. When it's wake up time, the lights go on.
TIMEZONE TRAVELLER VISIT; GREENWICH
Today in the UK clocks went back. Greenwich mean time. You can go to Greenwich in South London, UK, and be photographed standing astride the timeline.
Changing Clocks
Have one self-adjusting radio clock in your house which changes with automatic co-ordination with
Changing Watches
The tricks are:
1 Learn how
How to change your watch? Read the instructions. Explain how it works to somebody else. Change it every day for a week, ok, for three days.
2 Keep instructions handy
I have mine pinned in the lower middle of my kitchen pinboard.
3 Failing all else, find your brand of watch on the internet and google for the instructions from the manufacturer or a forum from other users.
When Do Clocks Change
2 am on Saturday night (technically Sunday morning) so that minimum disruption is caused to the working day.
Which Clocks To Change
Home clocks. All household clocks. Kitchen, lounge. Oven. Microwave. Computer. Entrance hall. Clock in garden or on front or outside of building.
Checking Appointments
The organiser should call everybody else on the day. Fifteen minutes after arrival time, call everybody who has not turned up to check.
Checking Travel
Check your watch. Your phone. Your phone time and alarm. Your laptop time and alarms.
Caretakers should check clocks on hotels, stations, airports, ferries etc.
The Traveller
Check the day and time of your departure and arrival.
Co-ordinate taking of daily pills.
Check mealtimes at destination. Will you be arriving after the evening meal service has finished? Or in time for breakfast and lunch and dinner?
TIME TRAVEL TROUBLE TALES
EUROPE
In Europe we drove back and forth across the border from Portugal to Spain. We didn't realise they were on different time zones. It was Christmas and we were told we could only have Christmas dinner if we finished early, by 9 pm because the staff were having their own dinner. No problem, we said. We looked at our watched. We had an hour and a half we thought. We were half way through our main course when the staff sat down to their own dinner. We thought, they've started early. We sat over our desserts and coffees, watching the staff have their own dinner.
Next morning we discovered we were an hour out with our breakfast time. We then realised the time difference and they'd been polite, no doubt wondering why we were still sitting in the restaurant during their Xmas party. Oh, dear, what an embarrassment!
ASIA
If you are leaving the US or UK and flying East, don't just tell your hosts your departure date, tell them your arrival date. We told our friends in Singapore that are travel date was Saturday. They made us a home-cooked welcome dinner on Saturday night. We arrived on Sunday.
AUSTRALIA
I phoned Australia from the USA. I was told that the person I was phoning was out to lunch. I gasped, "It's nearly dinner time - that's a late lunch for a Friday. He runs his day late."
The reply I received was, "But it's Saturday here and he's gone out for an early lunch. He's running on time or early."
USA
I could never remember which way around the world the clocks went forward and back. Until the death of Kennedy. Afternoon in Dallas, on evening TV in London.
The other thing to remember is that time zones change across America vertically so that California is on a different time zone to New York. I had grasped East Coast time relative to the UK when phoning home to my parents in London.
But back in London, I forgot that California was another couple of hours different. When my beloved late uncle died, I found the address of somebody who had sent him a Xmas card and long letter. I phoned her and said, "Hello, I'm calling from England. I'm afraid it's bad news, my uncle has died." After a long pause, she replied, "I'm sorry to hear your uncle has died. But who is he and who are you? I'm sorry, I"m not very wide awake, it's the middle of the night here."
So check your watches and clocks today. And put Greenwich timeline on your mental travel list.
