Living on ‘Yukon Time’ (diesel optional)

Yukon Time” – what a concept.

No, it’s not Pacific Standard Time, but a relaxed physiological perception of time itself – and, more specifically, appointments. Termed Yukon Time, it is a way of viewing time as more of a guideline than a policy or law.

The unit of a minute is deemed overkill and rounded to the hour. Some may even dislike the unit of an hour and may employ the morning, afternoon and evening system as their time posts. The extreme of this is simply throwing the watch in the creek and compartmentalizing to days.

Those who live a life that works with the system are truly blessed. And as I recall, the best times of my life were in the absence of a watch on the wrist and by simply ignoring the constraints of time management.

But did you know there is also another kind of Yukon Time? This one is physical.

In the smaller communities, disconnected from the Whitehorse “mother grid”, there is no conventional power. We use the new green energy (diesel generator, of course). The generators send out a slightly funky electricity that, for some clocks, slows down time.

For instance, you set your clock and a few days later it can be tens of minutes slow. It doesn’t take too many “tardies” to realize what’s up and, luckily, it doesn’t do it to all clocks, so you’ll at least know what the correct time is.

In theory, if someone didn’t have a watch, their time could be altered to “Diesel Yukon Time”. And if the rate of time change was the same for everyone (not proven statistically), then there would be a community of people on Diesel Yukon Time. Perhaps, in a year of slowed time, they could be days behind the real world.

And as long as you were both on Diesel Yukon Time, then you might not notice that you’re uniquely timed and you would just live “normally”. But things may get confusing if a world timer, a Yukon Timer and a Diesel Yukon Timer wanted to meet for beers or arrange a conference call.

This is not to be taken as a complaint, but as an observation. I am a big fan of Yukon Time, though I am only into the minute-long grey area. I greatly envy those with lifestyles friendly to throwing their watches away … and wish the best to those embracing full-on Diesel Yukon Time.

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