What Time is it Anyway?

I had to cheat a little with this human sized sundial in Stratford's Bancroft Gardens, built in an amphitheatre as part of a memorial to the four fire fighters who lost their lives doing their job in Atherstone-on-Stour (see full dial in extras), as when I stood in the correct spot it indicated 4pm.  Of course the council had forgotten to move the dial forward an hour in the spring.  I'm not sure how they managed in the old days when they were invented.  I can imagine the conversation......
 
Theodosius: "hey guys I've come up with this great idea to tell the time"
Leaders: "do you wear it on your wrist?"
Theodosius: "no,no it sits at the bottom of your garden mounted on a plinth"
Leaser: "OK, so you have to go out into the garden whenever you want to know what time it is"
Theodosius (getting excited): "That's right.  You take a look and read the time indicated by the shadow"
Leaders: "Hmm, that's the shadow thrown by the sun?"
Theodosius: "That's right, it saves working out the time from the position of the moon and stars"
Leaders: "The sun doesn't shine when the moon and stars are out"
Theodosius: "Exactly you can tell the time during the day rather than having to get up in the middle of the night"
Leader: "Does it have an alarm to let us know when daytime arrives so we can get up and go down the garden and see what time it is"
Theodosius: "ermm, no, maybe on a future version?"
Leaders: "OK, so we wait until daytime when there are no stars, we read the dial and use that in our astrological calculations to find out the position of the planets and hence establish the time?"
Theodosius: "Hmm, I didn't quite envisage it like that, it's more a garden decoration"
Leaders: "...and when there's no sun?"
Theodosius: "Maybe I should go back to the drawing board, does anyone have the time?"
 
Thanks to 60plus for hosting this week Mono Monday, theme Shadows.