Target is not happy that breakfast is late. — Photos: ELLEN WHYTE
Target was on the sofa, ears back and eyes narrowed with temper. Our old boy was registering a complaint: breakfast was late.
Our house runs on cat time, because the fuzzies demand a strict meal routine. We get up at 6am and breakfast is served before 6.30am. Biscuits first, then tuna.
But that day it was 7.15am. The biscuit bowl was empty and there was no tuna action. The cats were distraught.
While Target scolded, Inkie was on the floor, an attitude that proclaimed a cat weak with hunger. His big tummy suggested otherwise, but we got the message.
Tic Tac bounced from paw to paw, hurrying us into the kitchen. We rushed to serve, and we tried to explain that this was not our fault. The government was to blame.
The cats didn’t get it and frankly, we had to Google.
The answer lies in geography. In Malaysia, daytime runs roughly 12 hours from 6am to 6pm give and take an hour. The equator keeps daylight hours steady. But in Britain, stuck on the northern part of the planet, daytime runs from 4am to 11pm in summer, and from 8am to 4pm in winter.
This has always been seen as inconvenient. We miss lots of early light in summer, and we get up in the dark in winter.
In 1916, in the middle of World War I, Britain, Canada, and other countries decided to change the clocks because adding more daylight hours helped them save energy.
Ever since then, governments have made clock changes of an hour, and even two hours, twice a year.
Unimpressed felines
The cats were not impressed. Target stalked into the kitchen, thoroughly upset, and Inkie needed seconds to get over the shock of the threat of starvation.
Tic Tac was okay – until it came to treats.
Our princess is wild about creamy treats, the kind that come in a tube. She’d eat them all day every day if she could, so we ration them. Official treat time in our house is 10am.
Being a cunning girl and a shameless hustler, Tic Tac will often ask me for a treat at a few minutes before 10am. If I give it to her, she then races to see Tom at a few minutes past 10am, claiming she’s not had a treat, honest, cross-my-furry-heart.
We picked up on her scam some years ago and we tried to fight back. But Tic Tac is an amazing liar and an opportunist, so she often catches us out.
With the clock change, our pearly white scammer was served a dose of karma.
All cats have an inner clock, so when Tic Tac’s body told her it was treat time, she meowed.As both Tom and I were busy, we checked our devices and as these update automatically, we forgot the time was off.
We took Tic Tac’s meows as part of her usual scam. I’m ashamed to say we laughed and told her to pull another one.
Inkie and Target would have gone off, hurt and sulking, but Tic Tac is a fully empowered cat. She sat down, put her paws together, and let rip. Our girl has a good dose of Siamese in her, because her shriek escalated from annoyed cat to jet engine.
Forcefully reminded of the facts, we apologised. We also tried to persuade her to accept the new timings, but her fierce blue eyes and raised paw made her stance clear.
Tic Tac doesn’t approve of daylight savings.
As Target and Inkie disapproved too, we were scolded again at lunchtime and then teatime.
There’s only so much telling-off we can stand, so we offered the cats a compromise. In our house we no longer accept national clock changes.
Tic Tac disapproves of clock changes.
Mixed timing
We run on blended cat and government time. Bringing in the new time a few minutes a day, cushions the shock.
We’re up a bit early so breakfast is a bit late but not hideously late. And we’re moving treat time about 10 minutes a day.
It means we humans are at sixes and sevens. Daylight savings may help conserve energy but it’s like having minor jetlag twice a year.
We’re a bit bleary-eyed in the morning, and somewhat fuzzy at night, especially now it is pitch black
by 5pm. When we have supper, it feels as if we’re hosting a midnight feast.
As usual, the cats are taking complete advantage.
Target had two tuna suppers last night, one of them served sofa side. Inkie who is part Hobbit now calls loudly for second breakfast as if it’s his right.
As for Tic Tac, her naughtiness has reached new heights: today she weaseled three treats out of us.
That’s a summer time treat, a winter time treat and an extra helping because we couldn’t remember what day of the week it was, never mind what time it was.
So, while we humans grumble about messed about sleep, the cats now believe daylight saving time is a triumph of public policy.It’s not surprising really. Cats always come out on top.
