Lost time at ANU
A personal account of missing time at the Australian National University
I attended the Australian National University (ANU) in the mid 1990's. This account is set then. I lived on campus at Burton and Garran Hall, a busy student residence filled with eager students broadening their academic horizons.
One night I needed to return a number of books to one of the libraries on campus. ANU has three main libraries - Hancock, Chifley, and Menzies. All named after former Australian Prime Ministers. All libraries kept the same opening hours. If you were to draw a straight line from Burton and Garran Hall across campus it would pass directly through both Hancock Library and Chifley Library. It only takes 5 minutes to walk from Burton and Garran Hall to Chifley Library.
On this occasion, I was walking to Chifley Library as I had some Archaeology books to drop back. I left Burton and Garran Hall an hour before closing time. It took several minutes to walk to Hancock Library. Hancock was lit up and clearly open. Students were both going into the library and coming out. I continued walking for a couple more minutes and to my surprise when I came to Chifley Library it was in darkness and obviously closed. I eventually checked my watch as I approached the library entrance and found it was 10 minutes after closing time. A walk that would take 5 minutes at most had somehow taken over an hour!
I was completely mystified, I dropped my books through the book return slot and walked back towards Burton and Garran Hall. Upon reaching Hancock Library I noted it was just as dark and closed as Chifley Library had been. Yet minutes before it had been a hive of activity.
I have no explanation as to how I could possibly lose over an hour of time during a short 5 minute walk. I had made this walk hundreds of times before and hundreds of times after the event, and never had something as strange as this occur. I had not been drinking, nor had I been taking drugs or medication. I don't suffer epilepsy nor any other condition that causes me to black out. I have no explanation for what occurred to me that night. A routine 5 minute walk somehow took over an hour. Where that hour went and what I was doing during that time is a complete mystery that I will never be able to explain satisfactorily.
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