alarm clock society

This was a phrase I heard on the radio this morning. It came from William Hague and he was saying that he wants an encourage an 'alarm clock culture'. I think he meant by this that people are to be encouraged to spring out of bed in the morning and rush to work, there to busy themselves in the infernal machine in order to generate income for the country.

An alarm clock is so named because its strident ringing alarms us enough to wake us up. So its function is to disturb the natural rhythm of our sleep and to wake us suddenly in a way that shocks our body into action. So we wake alarmed, we then travel to work and in that commute to are probably subjected to further stress. The majority of us then strive for our 8, 9 or more hours and then face the same alarming trip home. And this is the sort of society that the Tories are aspiring to. At the same time, they are trying to discover how happy our society is. Other surveys have already identified our children as being the unhappiest in Europe and I would be surprised if adults are much cheerier - I wonder why!

The boating way of life seems to me to be much more in tune with our natural rhythms - especially if we are relying on battery power rather than mains electricity. I tend to wake when it gets light, so in the cold dark winters I sleep later and in the light summers, I am awake and ready for the day much earlier. I haven't used an alarm clock since I moved aboard and haven't yet been late for my 9-5 job. Because of my power constrictions, I watch less TV and go to bed earlier than I did when I lived in a house. This means I am getting  the amount of sleep I need and very rarely feel over tired. There is quite a lot of hard physical work involved in living aboard and that keeps me healthy, but also gives me a good excuse to regularly sit down and rest - something that is positively frowned on in this hurry up world these days. Even cruising seems to fit in with a more natural pace of life as we move so slowly and create little disturbance - so much so that I get to see wildlife that would have hidden itself from me had I been walking or cycling on the towpath.

Alarm clock society? You can keep it thanks - I will continue to belong to the floating society!