Timing is Everything

Timezones apt to confuse

Writing my last post left me feeling the need to do a bit of a mea culpa over an earlier Australian general election.

With Australia's compulsory voting rules I managed to cause panic in the Village, by reminding the Australian contingent of the day at the Mother Ship that polling day was upon them, causing hasty travel plans to Australia's busiest polling station, at Australia House in the Strand, to be arranged. I guess I could have pointed out that other Aussies had told me that the Federal Government didn't waste too much time chasing people overseas. I certainly should have pointed out that due to the vagaries of time zones the poll had, erm, actually already closed.

Me bad.

If they had happened to be American I might have felt less guilty, in view of the number of work related telephone conferences I've ended up participating in, in bed, usually at around 1AM. You'd think in a country with several internal time zones that the idea of this trend continuing across the Atlantic wouldn't be too much of an intellectual leap.