  A practical way to deal with the problem of time in quantum cosmology and
quantum gravity is proposed. The main tool is effective equations, which mainly
restrict explicit considerations to semiclassical regimes but have the crucial
advantage of allowing the consistent use of local internal times in
non-deparameterizable systems. Different local internal times are related
merely by gauge transformations, thereby enabling relational evolution through
turning points of non-global internal times. The main consequence of the local
nature of internal time is the necessity of its complex-valuedness, reminiscent
of but more general than non-unitarity of evolution defined for finite ranges
of time. By several general arguments, the consistency of this setting is
demonstrated. Finally, we attempt an outlook on the nature of time in highly
quantum regimes. The focus of this note is on conceptual issues.
