Clocks, Deadlines, And Lifeboats. Comical poem by Angela Lansbury.

 Don't miss deadlines in your lifelines

Omenously I missed my first

So I was born Caesarian

A timed plan B surgeons rehearsed

Our five-year-old learned about time

She demanded a big, pink clock

I am glad to say it arrived on time

But alarmed us with loud tick-tock

Pink kiddie clock from Amazon. Sharot family photo. Edited by Angela Lansbury.

Never in ten past million years

Would I have added pink ears on top

But it works. She watches hands turn

Breakfast, travel to school, bed, stop

She knows about tricycles and bicycles

About big buses and long trains

She looks at pictures of big ships

Cruise liners and big aeroplanes

She asked, 'What is a lifeboat for?'

We don't want to make her panic

No need to tell her of shipwrecks

Rules dating from the Titanic

We tell her, 'You must have plan B

For each eventuality

If your big ship is stuck on rocks

Go home on small boats pulled from blocks.'

Another deadline passed today

My poem missed it yesterday

So it will not be in a book

But it's on here, dear, when you look.

We all know daytime's when it's light

Watches and clocks spread to time trains

 We set alarms in mobile phones

To make sure we cstch tides and planes.

-ends-

Summary and general information

1Nationwide timing, instead of each area using sunrise and stars, was needed after railways needed to co-ordinates timetables and clocks.

 2 The requirement for ships to have enough lifeboats for all passengers came in after the enquiry into the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

Travel tips

1 You can use a mobile phone as an alarm clock. 

2 In my phone settings, the alarms over-ride my don’t disturb setting.

3 Check your phone to re-set alarms in new time zones.

2 Check your date of arrival as well as time. We once missed a party held in our honour, not realiding that we left Lonfon one day but reached Singapore the next day.

2 Our five year old understands time to get ready go to school and to leave for private and public transport.

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