Schools here finish early enough that the pickup lands in the middle of the working afternoon, and the road outside fills in the ten minutes beforehand. Leaving at the right moment is the whole of it, and the right moment is rarely the one that feels right. The count here runs to 4:03 pm down to the last second.
There is nothing to start and nothing to choose. The page reads the clock on your device, works out the gap to 4:03 pm, and redraws it every second for as long as it is open. Leave it in a background tab if you like; the number will be current whenever you look back at it.
Having all three forms in front of you saves a good deal of squinting: 4:03 pm for everyday reading, 16:03 for anything printed in timetable style, and three minutes past four in the afternoon for whatever was actually said down the phone. They are three ways of writing one instant, and mixing them up is easier than it sounds.
Common questions
What is 16:03 on a 12-hour clock?
The same instant is 4:03 pm in writing and three minutes past four in the afternoon out loud. Anything from 13:00 onwards loses twelve to give the pm figure, which is the only sum involved in moving between the two.
Does the number update by itself?
Yes. It is recalculated every second from your device's clock, so nothing needs refreshing or restarting. Whatever is on screen is the current gap to 4:03 pm, not a figure worked out when the page first opened.
What happens once 4:03 pm has passed for today?
The count rolls over and carries on towards the same time tomorrow. That happens on its own at the moment the time passes — the page does not need reloading and there is nothing to reset by hand.
Which clock does the countdown use?
Your own. It reads the local time and time zone from the device in front of you, which in the Emirates means Gulf Standard Time, UTC+4. Travel and the count follows whatever the device picks up.
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