KB felt about for the irritating alarm clock. She found it and managed to bash it. She had very little time to get back to sleep, however, as there was another alarm clock which she had cunningly placed in a closed drawer the night before. She was then forced physically to get out of bed and turn that one off when it started. She was just about to get back into bed when a third one went off. This time it was above the chest of drawers.
"All right, I get the message!" she said. She had successfully conned her today's self yesterday into getting up at this ungodly hour. Typical student that she was she rarely rose before 10:30. But today was different. President Gore was coming to London, the town where she studied, and she had to be ready to protest, even if it did mean getting up at 5 in the morning.
By half past five a small crowd had gathered outside Friern Barnet Town Hall, where the president would be passing. KB wanted to be right in the forefront. Everybody knew how strong her feelings were about the war and she didn't want to disappoint anyone by not getting herself arrested for screaming at the so-called "Leader of the Free World".
Some of KB's friends were there with placards. One of them handed KB a placard. It read "Hey Gore - NO WAR!" and had a picture of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, cradling a crying African child while cluster bombs exploded in the background.
Sure enough the motorcade soon appeared through the morning mist and everyone immediately started to shout, "Peace for the Zimbabweans!" and "Hey Gore - NO WAR!"
Al Gore, America's 43rd President, drove past with the British Prime Minister, Margaret Beckett, by his side. They were both used to these ugly scenes. Anti-war protesters would complain about their attempts to remove the Zimbabwean leader by force and their desire to democratise the African nation. What had that to do with America or Britain, they would ask? And if the British and American governments were so keen to bring about democracy, how come they did nothing about the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein? The demonstrators held up taunting images of the Iraqi dictator shaking hands with CIA operatives whose cover had famously - and embarrassingly - been blown and cartoons of Margaret Beckett being pulled along on a dog lead by President Gore.
"Oh, not the dog lead one again!" groaned Margaret.
"I must get one of those - looks kinda fun!" joked Al.
KB ran out in front of the motorcade which had to swerve to a halt. American security guards instantly rushed out and tried to grab KB. She attempted to evade capture and tie herself to the fence.
"Hey Gore - NO WAR!" she shouted at the President, who stared at her miserably. His neck hurt from the car's sudden jolt.
"And you should be ashamed of yourself too, Maggie!" she yelled at her Prime Minister. "There are children dying all because of your bloody war! Why can't you leave them alone? GET OFF ME! They were fine until you turned up, blowing up their houses... GET OFF ME!"
Inside Friern Barnet Town Hall the Mayor greeted the President and the Prime Minister cordially. She ushered them both to a long, comfortable sofa.
"I'll get straight to it," said the Mayor. "The waters are rising still higher."
Both her guests stared at their feet. This was the real story. Global Warming had now reached such a level that many inhabited areas, including the centre of London and much of New York, were now under water. Birmingham was now England's capital. What was left of London was pockets like Friern Barnet. It was no longer capable of functioning as a capital city.
"How high?" asked the Prime Minister.
"We think high enough to swallow up this building, if that gives you any sort of idea."
It did. Friern Barnet Town Hall was pretty high above sea level - that was very bad news.
"When?" asked Presient Gore laconically.
"We think by the middle of 2004. It looks like we're going to have quite a refugee problem on our hands. I'll leave you two with the political ramifications. I'm merely a humble servant, of course."
She smiled. She was, of course, so much more than a humble servant. No other Mayor in the world had the ear of the President and the Prime Minister like this. But no-one outside the room that fateful day would ever know just how important she truly was.
"You know I reckon today should be the day we give our folks some Good News, and I mean really Good News," said the President.
Margaret had the same thought. Keep people's minds off the real issue - quite right too. They'd "find" the man whose whereabouts they had known all along.
Later that evening KB switched on her television hoping to see herself. But it wasn't to be. A gloomy-looking bearded man appeared. Surely that couldn't be...?
"Ladies and gentlemen - we got him!" said the US administrator Paul Bremer triumphantly as he pointed to the drugged-up Robert Mugabe.
14th December 2003 would certainly be a day to remember.