since we moved we've found an alarm clock is not as necessary as it used to be. for two reasons. one is that the shorter commute time means we have more free time, get to bed earlier and so wake more naturally in the mornings. next reason is a combination of noisy upstairs neighbours, light coming in despite the blackout blind and birds tweeting. but i wouldn't want to give up on having an alarm clock for just in case. and in winter we'll need one, i'm guessing.
now, my current alarm clock does a very good job. it has a big display with an instant backlight so even ms myopia here can see the time in the middle of the night. it has a snooze, the beep is pretty awful but i've heard worse. however, it's on its way out and i just know one day it is just not going to work. and then i'll be mad. and late. so i've been looking for a replacement for the past many months, ready for a phasing out of the old and phasing in of the new. i even bought one but ended up taking it back cos the buzzer was so truly horrendously loud that i just couldn't stand it.
enter the tibetan bell alarm clock.
i can't remember how i found out about it but possibly it's related to looking for a tibetan bowl sound online for booyaa. i have an hourly chime on my ibook which resonates like a tibetan singing bowl and i love it. anyway. i found a website called 'now & zen' but perservered despite the silly name. i finally bought an alarm clock from the online store a few weeks back and had it shipped over from the states. it's not cheap, and then there's the postage, so if you're thinking about trading in your old alarm clock consider that you'll be shelling out about £60 for this one.
they offer a choice of chimes (higher/lower note) and finishes. i chose black lacquer, so it has a japanese feel to it. it's a slim wooden box with a digital clock fitted into the lid and the singing tube in the deep part of the box. it sings to you in the morning to wake you, rather than screaming angrily. it's soooo much nicer to wake to!
the alarm chimes a single note at decreasing intervals, which works like a snooze function, but you don't need to hit the snooze button, it's automatic. it uses the golden ratio to reduce the space between the chimes, too, so nice to know they thought about it, though of course i wouldn't know what the difference would be. what i like best is that it's such a gentle sound that you don't feel the need to jump up and switch it off to stop your ears from bleeding, and at the same time you can relax, and continue snoozing, as you know there'll be another gentle chime in a few minutes if you do fall back to sleep.
it's certainly transformed my start to the day.
