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(Re: comment by Tim Finnegan: Assuming his watch is accurately set. It appears to be.) The importance of baldly stating an exact, or near-exact, time is that it allows us to reasonably accurately synchronize all the activity of the 19 sections of Wandering Rocks. A few other exact, or near-exact, timestamps which are relevant to this episode may also be found in Sirens and Penelope. No doubt Mr Joyce directly stated the time in the very first paragraph deliberately to signal to us that we *could* synchronize all the action. Synchronizations in space and time are central to a deeper understanding of this pivoting mid-book episode, although it can also be read more superficially with considerable enjoyment.