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Time on my hands
OH MY, didn't you just love it. I mean really, really love it.
That moment on Sunday morning when you staggered out of bed, looked at the clock, and realised it was really an hour earlier than every time-telling device in your house was saying.
Did a bolt of joy strike you? Did you enter a state of bliss? Did you practically burst into song? I did.
Do I need to get out more?
The thing is, I'm running a tight schedule here.
Every minute counts, at the weekend just as much as during the week. And I'm guessing it's the same for you too.
I'm not claiming I need to be this busy, not really. I'm sure there are many opportunities for doing less, for sitting on the sofa more – it's just that I've lost the habit.
These days I need to use every minute, every day. I need a plan, I need a focus, and I need never to be more than six feet away from My List.
You're right, it's really not healthy.
So Sunday was time nirvana with a whole extra hour in the day to fill. There were probably people thinking differently, but those people are the parents of young children and suffering is what they do, so their views don't count.
So what did you do with your extra hour?
Maybe you spent it trying to work out how to change the time on the oven clock, I'm guessing this activity would have occupied a number of people on Sunday.
Me, I'm onto that one, I know exactly what to do. I know that if I leave it long enough someone else will give in and start hopelessly turning gas burners on and off trying to discover the one that isn't in fact a gas burner.
And the clock in the corner of the bathroom mirror – I know, isn't it amazing where clocks turn up these days – well, I left that too. Partly for the sheer pleasure of looking at it every morning and knowing that really it's an hour earlier than it says and partly because, you guessed it, I don't know how to change that one either.
I helped with the kitchen wall clock though, I helpfully hung it back on the wall, using the greasy ring mark where it had sat undisturbed for the last six months as a handy guide.
As for the clock in my car – I think you know what's coming here – yes, I left it, partly for the sheer pleasure of looking at it every morning and knowing it's an hour earlier than it says, and partly because, that's right, I haven't bothered to find out how to change it.
So not much time spent clock changing then, but here's what I did. I made Christmas cakes. I know, sickening, isn't it.
If it helps, I don't expect anyone to eat them because no one does anymore, do they? I just wanted to smell that fruit steeping in brandy and see my table covered in ingredients. I needed that illusion of being, you know, on top of life.
It took more than hour, to be truthful.
In fact, it took all of the day and all of the night, or so it seemed.
And it didn't go entirely smoothly, what with turning up at the supermarket without having looked at a Christmas cake recipe for some years now, and without the required ingredients itemised on My List.
Still, you can get a long way towards a Christmas cake by slinging packets of dried fruit into your trolley and following those up with a dozen eggs, some butter, and not forgetting the almonds.
Obviously, a return trip was necessary the next day to buy the black treacle (take it up with Delia, not me). And the baking bowl. And since there wasn't a baking bowl, a new washing-up bowl to do the job instead.
So that's really how I spent my extra hour on Sunday. Buying black treacle and a washing-up bowl.
So was your hour better spent? Did you sleep through it? Did you feel hungry all day trying to stick to new meal times? Did you have to ring your mum in the afternoon to find out "the real time". Just my daughter, then.
Imagine if we had that extra hour every day. How great would that be? We could all just add more tasks to the list, probably.
Maybe extra hours should be handed out randomly, at times when national morale is low, or perhaps they could be given out as little presents every bank holiday.
That would be perfect since time is our most precious resource, and there are never enough hours in a normal day to make a special trip to buy black treacle and a washing-up bowl.
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Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 0 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
