EDitorial ± 26-Mar-2007

All Change

On last week's Now Show, they asked the audience what they'd do with the extra hour of daylight. Cleverest answer: use it to photosynthesise.

Eleven pm-ish on spring forward Saturday, and I've demonstrated my 24th Ipswich cub scout preparedness by adjusting the mantlepiece clocks, front and back, plus the large-faced though surprisingly light clock in the kitchen. And the beep-beep microwave. Up to bed to find G. (a) knitting a digital monkey and (b) deciding when best to set her alarm for Sunday morning's jog.

Change
Everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called
— Muse, Butterflies And Hurricanes

Not an A-level type problem, you'd imagine. Except that this Science Museum endorsed gadget resyncs its time at midnight and the hour doesn't get added, officially, until 1am. She'd like to be up at 7:45am. Set it for 6:45, 7:45 or 8:45? Best left as an exercise for the reader. Punchline is that she easily made it round to her running mate's for 9am only to find running mate sound asleep. Clock change: what clock change?

My belief in technology told me that the whizzo Pure radio, aussi dans la cuisine, would reset itself within a minute of being turned on. Maybe it knew it was being scrutinised. Took a good quarter of an hour to get a grip. That's what you get when you christen the latest innovation after an edible flatfish.