Another rambling rant about time
27/09/25 01:33
I’ve never had much trouble waking in the morning. Since I was a young child, I have been comfortable going to bed relatively early compared to others. Now, in retirement, I often find myself feeling drowsy as soon as it gets dark outside. That isn’t much of a problem in the summer, but where we live, it gets dark pretty early in the evening this time of the year. Sunset occurs around 7 pm here these days, and we’re losing about 3 minutes of daylight every day. It isn’t practical for me to go to bed that early. If I did, I’d be done sleeping by 3 am or so. So, after dinner dishes are done, I try to have projects that keep me occupied. I’m not much of a TV watcher, but I do watch videos on my computer, and sometimes I’ll spend an evening watching several different videos designed primarily for entertainment. I love to read, and I often do so in the evening, but I have to be a bit choosy with my reading material. If I settle into my recliner with a book that isn’t too engaging, I’ll nod off, and then when it is time to go to bed, I won’t be sleepy, or I may go to sleep for a couple of hours and be wide awake in the middle of the night.
The challenge of dark evenings is going to be even worse in another month. Sunset will be before 6 pm, and then, on November 2, Daylight Saving Time ends, and it will be dark at 4 pm when the grandkids get off the school bus.
I used to be better at working in the evenings, but I’ve never been very good at it. When I was a college student, I discovered that I could be much more productive in the mornings, and I did most of my homework early in the morning. I’d rise before other students. I’d have the library to myself and could get a lot done before breakfast. These days, I generally don’t expect myself to accomplish much after dinner. I’ll putter in the garden, work on a few minor home repairs, or fiddle with my writing, but I know that serious work goes better in the mornings for me.
In the morning, I seem to have a sleep rhythm that wakes me before others. I can remember lying awake in my bed listening for my father to get up to go to work when I was a young child. As soon as I heard him stir, I’d get up and get dressed. Often, in the summer, he would leave the house around 4:30 am, and I would get to go with him to the airport. Sometimes I got to fly with him. Sometimes I’d entertain myself while he made his early morning flights. There were always fun things to do at the airport.
I didn’t have much need of an alarm clock, but when I was 10 or 11, I received a Baby Ben alarm clock as a birthday present. I think it might have been something that was done for my sisters when they reached a certain age, and since I was the next kid in line, the gift became a sort of tradition. At any rate, I was fascinated by the clock. It had two keys permanently attached for winding. One was for time, and the other was for the alarm. Although the time was supposed to run for 30 hours, it was practical to wind it once a day, usually at bedtime. The alarm probably only needed to be wound once a week, depending on how quickly it was shut off in the morning. Most of the time, I didn’t bother setting the alarm, though I gave it a try a few times. The loud bell had other functions. I’d use it to wake my brother, who liked to sleep in. One summer, I devised a system of opening my window just a crack and setting the alarm clock on the sill with a string attached to the knob you pulled out to set the alarm. I’d set the alarm for the time I expected my friends to drop by, and they’d pull the string, setting off the alarm to signal that they were in the yard. It seemed like a clever system, but it didn’t have any practical application, because we had a doorbell on our house that served the same function.
I discovered the value of the alarm clock when I became a college student. I found that while I woke in time for my classes and other obligations, I slept more soundly if I knew that the alarm would signal time to get out of bed. Otherwise, I’d keep waking and checking the clock throughout the night and not sleep as well.
After we got married, we got an alarm clock that played the radio to wake us. I’d set the volume very low, and sometimes I could wake without disturbing my wife. For most of my adult life, I had a watch with an alarm that I used. When I got a smartphone, I started using it as my primary alarm clock. I still use that system, though I rarely need an alarm now that I am retired. If I have an obligation to be somewhere at a specific time, I’ll set an alarm. Otherwise, I rise when I wake and am ready to go.
One of our granddaughters has a clock at her bedside and enjoys checking it. She is the one who wakes easily. The other grandchildren need to be called in the morning. I’ve considered purchasing an alarm clock as a gift for our oldest grandson, but he now has a phone with an alarm feature that he can set.
Do they still sell alarm clocks that you wind? We have a mantle clock that we wind every evening. When I forget and it stops chiming the hour, it will wake me up, and I’ll get up to wind it so I can sleep again. I think, however, that I am a relic of another generation. Winding clocks isn’t a part of the routines of our children or grandchildren.
Some of the clocks in our house won’t even need to be set when Daylight Saving Time ends. Most of them, however, do need to be reset. For mechanical clocks, the easiest way to set them back an hour is to stop them and then restart them an hour later. That’ll entertain me on Saturday, November 1, for at least an hour. I doubt our grandchildren will ever experience that ritual.
The challenge of dark evenings is going to be even worse in another month. Sunset will be before 6 pm, and then, on November 2, Daylight Saving Time ends, and it will be dark at 4 pm when the grandkids get off the school bus.
I used to be better at working in the evenings, but I’ve never been very good at it. When I was a college student, I discovered that I could be much more productive in the mornings, and I did most of my homework early in the morning. I’d rise before other students. I’d have the library to myself and could get a lot done before breakfast. These days, I generally don’t expect myself to accomplish much after dinner. I’ll putter in the garden, work on a few minor home repairs, or fiddle with my writing, but I know that serious work goes better in the mornings for me.
In the morning, I seem to have a sleep rhythm that wakes me before others. I can remember lying awake in my bed listening for my father to get up to go to work when I was a young child. As soon as I heard him stir, I’d get up and get dressed. Often, in the summer, he would leave the house around 4:30 am, and I would get to go with him to the airport. Sometimes I got to fly with him. Sometimes I’d entertain myself while he made his early morning flights. There were always fun things to do at the airport.
I didn’t have much need of an alarm clock, but when I was 10 or 11, I received a Baby Ben alarm clock as a birthday present. I think it might have been something that was done for my sisters when they reached a certain age, and since I was the next kid in line, the gift became a sort of tradition. At any rate, I was fascinated by the clock. It had two keys permanently attached for winding. One was for time, and the other was for the alarm. Although the time was supposed to run for 30 hours, it was practical to wind it once a day, usually at bedtime. The alarm probably only needed to be wound once a week, depending on how quickly it was shut off in the morning. Most of the time, I didn’t bother setting the alarm, though I gave it a try a few times. The loud bell had other functions. I’d use it to wake my brother, who liked to sleep in. One summer, I devised a system of opening my window just a crack and setting the alarm clock on the sill with a string attached to the knob you pulled out to set the alarm. I’d set the alarm for the time I expected my friends to drop by, and they’d pull the string, setting off the alarm to signal that they were in the yard. It seemed like a clever system, but it didn’t have any practical application, because we had a doorbell on our house that served the same function.
I discovered the value of the alarm clock when I became a college student. I found that while I woke in time for my classes and other obligations, I slept more soundly if I knew that the alarm would signal time to get out of bed. Otherwise, I’d keep waking and checking the clock throughout the night and not sleep as well.
After we got married, we got an alarm clock that played the radio to wake us. I’d set the volume very low, and sometimes I could wake without disturbing my wife. For most of my adult life, I had a watch with an alarm that I used. When I got a smartphone, I started using it as my primary alarm clock. I still use that system, though I rarely need an alarm now that I am retired. If I have an obligation to be somewhere at a specific time, I’ll set an alarm. Otherwise, I rise when I wake and am ready to go.
One of our granddaughters has a clock at her bedside and enjoys checking it. She is the one who wakes easily. The other grandchildren need to be called in the morning. I’ve considered purchasing an alarm clock as a gift for our oldest grandson, but he now has a phone with an alarm feature that he can set.
Do they still sell alarm clocks that you wind? We have a mantle clock that we wind every evening. When I forget and it stops chiming the hour, it will wake me up, and I’ll get up to wind it so I can sleep again. I think, however, that I am a relic of another generation. Winding clocks isn’t a part of the routines of our children or grandchildren.
Some of the clocks in our house won’t even need to be set when Daylight Saving Time ends. Most of them, however, do need to be reset. For mechanical clocks, the easiest way to set them back an hour is to stop them and then restart them an hour later. That’ll entertain me on Saturday, November 1, for at least an hour. I doubt our grandchildren will ever experience that ritual.