Maximising the stolen hour - not!
One less hour in the day always seems like someone has stolen an opportunity from me.
Here's how the day panned out:
Very early this morning I took an hour to walk from the bedroom to the kitchen and back. In an uncanny moment, I woke just shy of 1am in need of some water. I'd forgotten to put a glass at the side of my bed, so I dragged myself out and walked to the kitchen. Glancing at the kitchen clock, it was 12:59am. I chuckled as I realised that in under a minute time would spring forward. I stood there waiting for the moment.
I didn't know what to expect from the clock. Would it show 1:00 first and then change to 2:00. No, it went from 0:59 to 2:00. I trotted off to bed having watched the lost hour unfold in a blink of an eye.
Naturally, my body-clock was all over the place and I woke up much later than normal. To maximise the confusion I stayed in bed for about an hour or so, reading. By the time I'd hauled myself up, showered, and dressed, it was ticking past 11:30am (new time!).
It was blowing a gale outside, and the rain-drops were moving in the wrong direction — horizontally. My other half is away for a few days so it's just me and the dog. I fed us, and busied myself with nothing. It's amazing how much nothing you can achieve in a long space of time.
The dog sat impatiently looking at her collar and lead hanging by the door. She had been out in the garden so I knew she was not bursting for the loo. She just wanted a walk. No amount of negotiation would make her understand that the weather was not pleasant for a stroll. She'd already been out — you think she would know it was miserable. But alas, she is oblivious to weather.
Eventually there was a gap in the weather. The sun was out and the sky deceptively blue. I seized the opportunity and we left the house for a wander in the fields. At my furthest point from home the weather decided to liven up again. We turned on our heels and walked briskly home. I was drenched and freezing on arrival. She, the dog, was displaying similar characteristics but did not have a care in the world.
While I was out and about I did come up with an idea for a piece of short fiction. I'm finally trying to capture my stories rather than them be a fleeting thought rushing through my head. Once warmed, I sat down and wrote The Gift. I stepped away from the screen for some lunch, and then returned to re-read and edit it down a little.
It's now 6:30pm, the weather is relentless, but the log burner is on and we are cosy. The day continues to stretch on, as is the purpose of all this clock-tinkering.
I am confident I will procrastinate for the next several hours and then retire to my slumber thinking how cheated I was by the lost hour.