Sunday 9 December 2007

Happy 20 to 2 Day


It is nearly 20 to 2 my new favourite time of the day.
Last week I was racing around the house, making soup, writing a blog article and doing some washing. Then crackle, crackle, I had boiled the soup over and fused the cook top. So the power to the oven and and the cooktop was turned off and our favourite clock in the house, the oven clock stopped at 20 to 2.

We both were unaware of how many times a day we check the time on that clock. Its easy to read without our glasses, its close to the kitchen sink and more reliable than our battery clocks.
For the 1st few days we kept forgetting that the clock was set at 20 to 2 and went about our daily tasks actually believing it was 20 to 2.
Sometimes it felt confusing, not knowing what was real time but most of the time we had heaps of fun and joked and laughed as our routine changed and the time remained 20 to 2.

Things like:
  • Okay I"ll go to the shops now its 20 to 2 and the mothers will not be doing their crazy driving 3:30 ritual. There are 8 schools near where we live and the roads get really busy and you waste petrol being in queues.
  • Hey we best have lunch its 20 to 2.
  • Time to stop work, its siesta, its 20 to 2.
  • Time to stop watching TV - its late, its 20 to 2.
  • Why are the dogs following me around, they get fed at about 4 o'clock and its only 20 to 2.
  • Hey its only 20 to 2, there's heaps of time to spend in the garden before it gets dark.
I decided early in the week that I like 20 to 2, its a nice quiet time of the day for us. So from now on I am going to take the batteries out of a clock and set the time at 20 to 2.

Why? - well as a reminder that:
  • habits are hard to break.
  • maybe we should not let time govern our lives as much as it does.
  • there should be more siesta time in everyones lives.
  • we should all live in the moment and not try doing to many things at once.
  • there should be a quiet time in the day for all of us.
What is your 20 to 2 special time?

3 comments:

Pattie Baker said...

Maggie: I love this post! For me, the real 20 to 2 is when I usually stop working and start transitioning to get my younger daughter at school. I check the mail. I check the garden and maybe take some photos. I check my breath, and slow it down, and try to find a way to relax and clear my head. I just check out for awhile, before it's time to check in again.

20 to 2 will now be a formal, special time in my day. Thanks!

Kate said...

My special time is around 6.20am. If I wake up after this I cannot be sure to have enough time to write on the blog before the day calls me away. If it is before 6.30 I can sit in the still and cool of the morning, out on the verandah, and have my coffee before logging on . That little bit of guaranteed time alone is special.

Chook said...

It's much like Ringo's "stop and smell the roses". I like the idea of not trying to do many things at once. I'm going to make an effort to finish one thing at a time this week!