We have a big Ikea clock which tick-tocks away on our wall. I can see it clearly from my desk, so despite the fact that my computer can tell me the time, and my mobile phone—which is usually right next to me on my desk—can tell me the time, I always just glance up at the wall clock when I want to know what time it is, because I find it easier to get an instant feel for the time by looking at an analog clock rather than a digital display.

So, today was a long day. I was roused from bed by a phone call and immediately got down to work translating several documents which needed to be done today. After working for a bit, I made some coffee and went back to the computer, forgoing breakfast (something I don’t usually do). I worked away for a while longer, and then my friend Karin called and we had a really long chat. Then I did some more work.

By about noon I was really hungry for lunch. Normally I wind up having lunch around 2, but I figured that skipping breakfast had made me hungry earlier than usual. I made lunch (a rather convoluted affair which involved cooking quinoa and then stir-frying it with some scallions and scrambled egg) and ate it at the dining room table while perusing the Guardian Weekend magazine.

After eating, it was back to the computer for yet more work. Work, work, work. I felt tremendously productive; I seemed to be getting loads done in no time at all. In fact, by about 1, I was feeling quite burned out. The miserable weather was making the day darker and darker, I was achy and tired, and time just seemed to be crawling by. At 1:30, I decided to have a quick nap in the bedroom to revive myself. I figured I’d rest my eyes for an hour at most, then get up, make some tea, and get back to work before getting ready to head out to meet Jeremy at 5:30.

I went into the bedroom, kicked off my shoes, slipped under the blankets, and checked my bedside clock before snuggling into the pillows.

It wasn’t 1:30. It was 4:30.

I jumped up and grabbed a watch from the dresser: 4:30. I dashed back to my computer and checked the time: 4:30. I looked at the Ikea clock still tick-tocking away on the wall: 1:30.

Despite all its tick-tocking, the stupid battery-powered clock had clearly started w i n d i n g d o w n at some point in the morning. And despite the fact that I had numerous other means of telling the time available to me, I had just kept looking compulsively at the wall clock for the whole day and wondering why the day felt so. damn. long.

So, having been catapulted several hours into the future, I am now hastily downing a cup of tea and finishing up my work so I can still get out of the house on time. I’ve gone from slogging through the slowest day on earth to being in a complete panic and having no time at all. And it’s dark out not just because of the weather, but because the sun is going down and the day is almost over.

I’ve been living in some weird little slowed-down relativistic bubble of my own today while the rest of the world has rushed by me. What a strange, time-warping, mind-bending experience.