Losing an hour, gaining a bad back!

“Ooh me aching back!”

Not the best of starts to a positive post. Not the best of starts to the first day of good old British Summer Time either. Although the day itself didn’t actually start that way.

I had forgotten to un-set my alarm last night when I went to bed. I had an amazing sleep, after finally drifting off to sleep at around 2am – I had a dream where I had exceptionally long hair, which was down to my ankles (although I don’t know why I had hair on my mind as I have had most of it cut off last week) but I can not remember what I was doing in the dream, or what importance the hair was… maybe it needs washing or something. Anyway, I digress.

My alarm went off at 6am. I switched it off, and decided to get myself up and about and throw some clothes into my washing machine. I have a wall clock in the upper walkway of the vast entrance corridor of Aquatom Mansion, which is always one hour fast… only when I looked at it this morning it was the correct time. For some illogical reason, I was struck by shock as though I had been blasted by a bolt of lightning. I realised that I was living in the wrong time…

Yes, not only had I forgotten to un-set my alarm, I had also forgotten to move time forward one hour last night. Which was probably a good thing in hindsight, as my alarm would have woken me at 5am, and I don’t think I’m the most pleasant of grumps after three hour’s sleep. Although it may have been four (or two for that matter – I always get confused when the time changes – you should see me trying to explain whether it will be darker or lighter at 7am or 7pm after the time change!) However, all of this shock would have been avoided if I had un-set the alarm. I would have realised that I hadn’t altered the time, altered it, and 6am would have still been 6am, I would have still been asleep, and my washing would have been delayed slightly.

So, in a bizarre way, losing the hour seemed to save me some time. I’m living in a paradox again.

All of this confusion does not explain the ache I have in my back. It was perfectly fine when I woke up. I bounded out of bed like a lively little lamb, swooped up all of the things that needed to be cleaned, energetically ran all of the way to the laundry room on the South Side of the Mansion with sleeves, legs, arms and collars trailing behind me, filled the machine with clothes, detergent and softener, clicked the clicks and pressed the buttons, heard the hum of the start of the washing cycle and then sprinted back to the walkway to double check the time that I had spotted in the corner of my eye as I ran past the clock mere seconds earlier. It was then that I was struck my the metaphorical lightning.

It was also then that I realised that I had lost the hour, and for those few moments I had been actually living in the past. I knew the time change was due, because I knew a few days ago that the time needed adjusting this weekend. As usual, and this happens twice every year, I never altered the time the night before. I always leave it until the next morning – although in some cases it has been the next evening (or the following Tuesday!) when I get round to making the change. I didn’t not do it deliberately last night, I had forgotten; but if I hadn’t forgotten, I probably wouldn’t have done it anyway and left it until today all the same.

The missing hour suddenly made me feel very sleepy. Light-headed and dizzy, I lay down on top of my bed, and drifted back to sleep again where I lay. I woke up naturally about an hour and a half later, and felt as though I had had the most perfect sleep. Sometimes, I find that the second sleep in a morning more refreshing than the one from the night before, and this seemed to be no exception to the rule. Until I went to stand up. The first words spoken by me on the very first day of British Summer Time 2011 were those that I used to start this post.

Things aren’t as achy now. I’m over the missing hour. My laundry is drying. And my Sunday afternoon is about to begin. And to end on a positive note – this is a positive post after all – Here Comes The Summer!