Clock Watching

One of my present jobs has involved logging my time minute by minute. No doubt this is a practice that makes complete sense in an office in which only the tick of an antique clock and the thud of dusty documents hitting an in-tray disturb the 9-5 silence. And actually during school hours it works fine since there’s often less to disturb homeworkers than the office kind (see recent blog on Kung Fu Panda). But there are times when it can all go horribly wrong. Here’s an example:
3.45pm     Begin urgent work email
3.46pm    Daughter one yells down the stairs, “Mum, do you know where my pink top is?” I yell back, “Have a look in your drawer.”
3.47pm    work on urgent email
3.48pm    D1 calls down. “It’s not there.” I call up, “Try the wash then.”
3.49pm    resume work on email
3.50pm    Daughter two yells down. “Mummeee”. What? “No-one’s playing with me.” Conversation about suggested activities.
3.52pm    resume email
3.53pm     D1: “It’s not in the wash and I really really want to wear it.” Leave my desk and have brief hunt for T-shirt, which I find in her drawer.
3.55pm    resume email
3.56pm    Hiyaaaaa. D2 arrives dressed in a selection of bizarre dressing up box items, including an eyeshade, and gives me a Kung Fu panda demonstration.
3.57pm    D1 arrives in pink top and begins long description of a dream she had three nights ago …
If anyone has ideas about how to log accurately the work elements of the past 15 minutes I’d be grateful to hear it.