Time
I woke up the other morning, only to discover it was an hour earlier than I expected. Yes, it’s the old “fall back” time of the year again, the ushering-in of Standard Time. Seems like it comes sooner now than before. It’s all right, though, it was only Sunday and me and the Missus had just landed in sunny Miami, ready to hop onboard the Norwegian Breakaway for a seven-day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. It was another beautiful day in paradise.
Nonetheless, due to the change in time zones, it was actually three hours earlier than I would have been waking up in my mountaintop hometown paradise. The sudden time change, coupled with the time zone change hit me with a double whammy, so I began my morning with an extra shot of java before embarking on a journey that would take us first to San Juan, Puerto Rico, then to the Virgin Islands where I couldn’t tell the virgins from the non-virgins.
“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day. Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way, kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town, waiting for someone or something to show you the way.” (“Time” – Pink Floyd – From the 1973 “Dark Side Of The Moon” album)
I wish they would just have one time parameter and stick with it all year long, because it’s really annoying to readjust your sleep schedule every time they switch from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time and back again, not to mention moving all your clocks forward, or backward, as the case may be. (For folks in San Berdoo, you don’t have to stay up until 2 a.m. to change your clock.)
“No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun, and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking, racing around to come up behind you again. The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older, shorter of breath and one day closer to death.” (Pink Floyd)
Springing forward in March, when Daylight Saving Time kicks in, is also confusing because, when you forget to set your clock ahead one hour, it’s an hour later than you think it is and then you end up getting to work an hour late. Also, when it’s dinner time, you’re not hungry yet. Maybe I should just move to Arizona where they’re always on Standard Time.
It’s interesting how some folks always seem to show up for work an hour early when we switch to Standard Time because they forgot to set their alarm clock behind one hour. So, have another cup of java.
“Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time. Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines. Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way. The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d have more to say.” (Pink Floyd)
Keep it flyin’, Uncle Mott