Charlie, Department of Works: Bloody typical, they've gone back to metric without telling us.
Harry Tuttle: Bloody paperwork. Huh.
Sam Lowry: I suppose one has to expect a certain amount.
Harry Tuttle: Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement. Go anywhere, travel light, get in, get out, wherever there's trouble, a man alone. Now they got the whole country sectioned off, you can't make a move without a form.
Mrs. Terrain: There's been a little complication with my complication.
Answer: I don't think the time is particularly relevant, except that its exactness is in stark contrast to the temporal and locational vagueness of the next statement which is "...Somewhere in the 20th century".
Sierra1