diff --git a/date.c b/date.c
index 59dfe579c6a0c65abe0a34052cdbf16643afbfb8..3eba2dfe8841cee28850e2f1f4177e1e32f1c8a8 100644
--- a/date.c
+++ b/date.c
@@ -405,9 +405,9 @@ static int is_date(int year, int month, int day, struct tm *now_tm, time_t now,
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static int match_multi_number(unsigned long num, char c, const char *date, char *end, struct tm *tm)
+static int match_multi_number(unsigned long num, char c, const char *date,
+			      char *end, struct tm *tm, time_t now)
 {
-	time_t now;
 	struct tm now_tm;
 	struct tm *refuse_future;
 	long num2, num3;
@@ -433,17 +433,18 @@ static int match_multi_number(unsigned long num, char c, const char *date, char
 	case '-':
 	case '/':
 	case '.':
-		now = time(NULL);
+		if (!now)
+			now = time(NULL);
 		refuse_future = NULL;
 		if (gmtime_r(&now, &now_tm))
 			refuse_future = &now_tm;
 
 		if (num > 70) {
 			/* yyyy-mm-dd? */
-			if (is_date(num, num2, num3, refuse_future, now, tm))
+			if (is_date(num, num2, num3, NULL, now, tm))
 				break;
 			/* yyyy-dd-mm? */
-			if (is_date(num, num3, num2, refuse_future, now, tm))
+			if (is_date(num, num3, num2, NULL, now, tm))
 				break;
 		}
 		/* Our eastern European friends say dd.mm.yy[yy]
@@ -513,7 +514,7 @@ static int match_digit(const char *date, struct tm *tm, int *offset, int *tm_gmt
 	case '/':
 	case '-':
 		if (isdigit(end[1])) {
-			int match = match_multi_number(num, *end, date, end, tm);
+			int match = match_multi_number(num, *end, date, end, tm, 0);
 			if (match)
 				return match;
 		}
@@ -1013,7 +1014,8 @@ static const char *approxidate_alpha(const char *date, struct tm *tm, struct tm
 	return end;
 }
 
-static const char *approxidate_digit(const char *date, struct tm *tm, int *num)
+static const char *approxidate_digit(const char *date, struct tm *tm, int *num,
+				     time_t now)
 {
 	char *end;
 	unsigned long number = strtoul(date, &end, 10);
@@ -1024,7 +1026,8 @@ static const char *approxidate_digit(const char *date, struct tm *tm, int *num)
 	case '/':
 	case '-':
 		if (isdigit(end[1])) {
-			int match = match_multi_number(number, *end, date, end, tm);
+			int match = match_multi_number(number, *end, date, end,
+						       tm, now);
 			if (match)
 				return date + match;
 		}
@@ -1087,7 +1090,7 @@ static unsigned long approxidate_str(const char *date,
 		date++;
 		if (isdigit(c)) {
 			pending_number(&tm, &number);
-			date = approxidate_digit(date-1, &tm, &number);
+			date = approxidate_digit(date-1, &tm, &number, time_sec);
 			touched = 1;
 			continue;
 		}
diff --git a/t/t0006-date.sh b/t/t0006-date.sh
index e53cf6d36d573c3d758f0005c95aa4a364df82b1..fac0986134fefa5c61763f4c56873da8ba28072a 100755
--- a/t/t0006-date.sh
+++ b/t/t0006-date.sh
@@ -82,4 +82,7 @@ check_approxidate 'Jun 6, 5AM' '2009-06-06 05:00:00'
 check_approxidate '5AM Jun 6' '2009-06-06 05:00:00'
 check_approxidate '6AM, June 7, 2009' '2009-06-07 06:00:00'
 
+check_approxidate '2008-12-01' '2008-12-01 19:20:00'
+check_approxidate '2009-12-01' '2009-12-01 19:20:00'
+
 test_done