Bright and Early

So. The alarm clock went beep beep beep and it seemed very dark, but it was also raining very hard. Dan got out of bed and got the thermos of coffee he'd made the night before (as always on a work day) and poured a cup while we discussed our plans for the day. Part way through the second cup we heard the ships clock strike (again, as always). But something was off. Instead of 2 chimes (5 A.M.) we heard 5 chimes. Eh? Sometimes the ships clock is off if it needs winding, but that wasn't the case.

Here's how the chimes work, for breaking the ships day into 4-hour watches. 8 chimes ("8 bells") is midnight, 4 AM, 8 AM, noon, 4 PM or 8 PM). Then 1/2 hour later (12:30, 4:30, 8:30 etc) is one chime. 1/2 hour later (1:00, 5:00, 9:00 etc) is two chimes. And so on. So 5 chimes could be 6:30 AM and we'd overslept - nope, too dark. I turned on the light and looked at the clock, which for reasons I will probably never know, decided to ring at 2:15 AM. Worse, we'd just had 2 cups of coffee, so it wasn't like either of us could fall back asleep!

I was at my desk ultra-early this morning, but I'm sure it'll be an early night!