Even if you know what you're doing, you'll feel stupid if the moon sets earlier than you expected or clouds cover the pole star.
A time-zone change by Mr. Chávez in 2007 that turned clocks back half an hour also led consumption to climb (the sun sets earlier here than before).
An absence of cellphones and computers, along with a reference to the 12-cent postage stamps Wilson has saved from his past career as a journalist, suggest a setting earlier than the present, but actual dates aren't given.
The others, "Billy Bathgate," "World's Fair," etc., all the way up to "City of God," are set no earlier than the thirties, and "City of God" takes place at the turn of this century, the twenty-first.
Mr. Van Horn, a triathlete, set off earlier than Mr. Brunstad, but quit after four and a half hours.
De Gaulle ordered the device to be set off earlier than planned, and the coup was unsuccessful.
Her latest, The Little Friend, has a prologue set 12 years earlier than chapter one.
The immigration minister, James Brokenshire, has responded to the warnings of delays by advising families to set off earlier than normal when the new exit checks come into force.
