When’s my birthday again?

It was my birthday today — or maybe it was yesterday. It’s kind of hard to keep track. No, it’s not senility setting in, it’s just a question of interpretation, a bit like being born on a leap year on February 29th. In that case when’s your birthday when it’s not a leap year?

I was born at 12:08 AM GMT on January 4, but since I now live on the east coast of the US, five hours behind, the time that the planet has rolled back around to the exact spot in its annual cycle around the sun where I was born, 47 years ago, is 7:08 PM, Eastern Standard Time on January 3.

If I’d remembered this earlier it would have been a good excuse to ask to open presents early, but it didn’t occur to me until I was going to bed last night. Anyway, the paperwork says Jan 4, and I don’t think the powers that be take into account. Sometimes my ability to nit-pick becomes a bit scary!

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