Alarmed
I have had the same alarm clock for nearly 25 years (frightening thought!). It's a little battery powered digital thing that plays 'You are My Sunshine' in a beepy way until you manage to hit it. I love it for 3 reasons. Firstly it is an electronic item that has survived nearly 25 years of me which has to be a record. Admittedly it's rendition of 'You Are My Sunshine' has gotten a bit quirky and sometimes it is a case of all the right notes but not neccessarily in the right order (which could be considered an improvement) but it still keeps time and is pretty reliable. Secondly, it is remarkably robust which is great because my preferred method of dealing with something beepily playing 'You Are My Sunshine' or anything remotely resembling it in the morning (or, indeed, at any time really) is to thump it or hurl it at the wall and it has survived nearly 25 years (still getting used to that) with only a few scuffs on the corners to show for it. Lastly, and most importantly, unlike pretty much every other digital clock I've come across, it does not have luminous numbers. It has plain black numbers and a little button to get a light to illuminate the time when you are wondering what time it is at 4.00am. I hate lights at night. If I could, I'd have it pitch dark like it was at home. Sadly there's far too much light pollution down this end of the country but I can at least manage not have little red or green lights shining right next to my head.
Minor points in it's favour also include the fact that it does not tick (can't bear ticking things, especially at night) and it only seems to need its battery replacing every 8 years.
In fact the only problem I have with it is that I can't stand 'You Are My Sunshine'. It's a tune I hate but is so earwormy that merely the first couple of notes are enough to embed it in my head for a whole morning. (My alarm clock once went off in my bag when I was on the train to Manchester and I couldn't get to it in time to turn it off. By the time we pulled in at Victoria, the whole coach was unconsciously humming it under their breath!) Due to this fact, I have, over the years (25 of them!) perfected the art of slamming my hand down on the clock just as it's in the act of thinking of starting up.
Anyhow, a couple of days ago, I finally got round to changing the batteries for the 3rd time. It might have been overdue: the number display had faded to light grey and had to be looked at at a certain angle in order to be able to make out the time and, when the tune managed to play, it basically came out as 2 little discreet (and, in fact, discrete) coughs (hence my reluctance to get on with changing the batteries). Now the display is clear as crystal and the tune loud and beepy as ever (if not playing precisely the tune it was manufactured to). However, as I have discovered over the last 2 mornings, apparently, as the batteries have run down over the last 8 years, so has the pitch of the tune. I have weird hearing due to deafness as a child and various operations and whatnot which have left with Air conduction hearing in only one ear and a lack of ability to hear certain higher frequencies which, it turns out, my newly invigorated alarm almost completely operates in. I can hear only 3 notes of the entire song and most of those are at the end. Sadly my flatmate and the new cat can hear all of them. Fortunately flatmate gets up at the same time (and cat is soon to be subjected to my fiddle practice so this can be considered training) but it does mean that I can hear her singing 'You Are My Sunshine' while she's getting ready for work and I somehow feel it would be rude to thump her or throw her against the wall so now I have 'You Are My Sunshine' stuck in my head as well.
I hope these batteries run down fast!
Considering the cinema tonight partly because I haven't been over August and if I don't use my cineworld card often, they start making money off me rather than me saving on film (Although I shouldn't worry about this because I always profit when a hobbit film comes out and I go to see it about 20 times. I think I'm still ahead from when the last one came out!) and partly because I have a new Premier Unlimited card (which I received for the arduous task of having an Unlimited card for a whole year!) and I want to see what it does.
I can pack for Otley tomorrow...
Minor points in it's favour also include the fact that it does not tick (can't bear ticking things, especially at night) and it only seems to need its battery replacing every 8 years.
In fact the only problem I have with it is that I can't stand 'You Are My Sunshine'. It's a tune I hate but is so earwormy that merely the first couple of notes are enough to embed it in my head for a whole morning. (My alarm clock once went off in my bag when I was on the train to Manchester and I couldn't get to it in time to turn it off. By the time we pulled in at Victoria, the whole coach was unconsciously humming it under their breath!) Due to this fact, I have, over the years (25 of them!) perfected the art of slamming my hand down on the clock just as it's in the act of thinking of starting up.
Anyhow, a couple of days ago, I finally got round to changing the batteries for the 3rd time. It might have been overdue: the number display had faded to light grey and had to be looked at at a certain angle in order to be able to make out the time and, when the tune managed to play, it basically came out as 2 little discreet (and, in fact, discrete) coughs (hence my reluctance to get on with changing the batteries). Now the display is clear as crystal and the tune loud and beepy as ever (if not playing precisely the tune it was manufactured to). However, as I have discovered over the last 2 mornings, apparently, as the batteries have run down over the last 8 years, so has the pitch of the tune. I have weird hearing due to deafness as a child and various operations and whatnot which have left with Air conduction hearing in only one ear and a lack of ability to hear certain higher frequencies which, it turns out, my newly invigorated alarm almost completely operates in. I can hear only 3 notes of the entire song and most of those are at the end. Sadly my flatmate and the new cat can hear all of them. Fortunately flatmate gets up at the same time (and cat is soon to be subjected to my fiddle practice so this can be considered training) but it does mean that I can hear her singing 'You Are My Sunshine' while she's getting ready for work and I somehow feel it would be rude to thump her or throw her against the wall so now I have 'You Are My Sunshine' stuck in my head as well.
I hope these batteries run down fast!
Considering the cinema tonight partly because I haven't been over August and if I don't use my cineworld card often, they start making money off me rather than me saving on film (Although I shouldn't worry about this because I always profit when a hobbit film comes out and I go to see it about 20 times. I think I'm still ahead from when the last one came out!) and partly because I have a new Premier Unlimited card (which I received for the arduous task of having an Unlimited card for a whole year!) and I want to see what it does.
I can pack for Otley tomorrow...