diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 844e3d2..0e4ab58 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -47,8 +47,11 @@ RUN go build -o /out/mavend    ./cmd/mavend    && \
     go build -o /out/mavcaldav ./cmd/mavcaldav
 
 FROM debian:trixie-slim AS runtime
+# tzdata so the TZ env (set in compose) resolves — otherwise Go can't load the
+# zone and time.Now() stays UTC, and mavend answers clock/date queries and
+# evaluates quiet-hours in UTC.
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-      ca-certificates libvulkan1 mesa-vulkan-drivers libgomp1 && \
+      ca-certificates libvulkan1 mesa-vulkan-drivers libgomp1 tzdata && \
     rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # runtime native libs: whisper/ggml (incl. vulkan) are real files in deps/lib.
diff --git a/cmd/mavweb/main.go b/cmd/mavweb/main.go
index 81bdba9..9ea66d7 100644
--- a/cmd/mavweb/main.go
+++ b/cmd/mavweb/main.go
@@ -50,7 +50,14 @@ var dashHTML string
 // text in facts/nudges. Read-only: browses the append-only store via CoreAPI,
 // never writes — the store IS the audit trail, this just shows it.
 var dashTmpl = template.Must(template.New("dash").Funcs(template.FuncMap{
-	"ago": func(t time.Time) string { return time.Since(t).Round(time.Second).String() + " ago" },
+	"ago": func(t time.Time) string {
+		// A zero timestamp (no presence signal yet, fresh DB) would make
+		// time.Since saturate to ~292y (MaxInt64) and render as garbage.
+		if t.IsZero() {
+			return "never"
+		}
+		return time.Since(t).Round(time.Second).String() + " ago"
+	},
 }).Parse(dashHTML))
 
 func noCache(h http.Handler) http.Handler {
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index aa9e21e..041de96 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ x-image: &image
   build: .
   pull_policy: never   # only ever the locally-built image
   restart: unless-stopped
+  # local time for clock/date replies AND quiet-hours evaluation. Change to
+  # your zone; needs tzdata in the image (installed in the Dockerfile).
+  environment:
+    - TZ=Europe/Samara
 
 services:
   mavend: