I think I backtracked on the idea to use the current time to detect early a sync lost when there are no events coming in and I forgot the variable which was no longer used.
In the preroll, I can't use the current time because the target id we are looking for may well be days in the past. 
It would make no sense to test the current time in preroll.

In the backlog, it makes no sense either but it was already ok.