TIME KEEPS RUNNING

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?   KSR

I don’t wear a watch.  What is the point, because they are either fast or slow, and does anybody really know what time it is anyway?  We have a collection of old clocks, and they each have their own opinion as to the correct time of day.  We have silenced most of their voices so as to sleep in peaceful quiet.  Two of the more pleasant songsters dutifully chime out the half hours.  Our friend Bill,  is a clock man and has an extraordinary collection of antique timepieces, and allows them all their happy jingles, some on the quarter, some on the half and three-quarter as well as the one important hour.  It was a disconcerting cacophony when we first met at their pleasant dinner table some years ago.  I’m sure it takes some time and thought to wind and/or stop them all before an extended trip, but they are lovely.

Each of our clocks has a story of course, some more interesting than others.  My favorite rests upon my living room mantle, and I have loved it all my life.  It first belonged to my great uncle’s family and was given to him and my aunt for their wedding and decorated their mantle all their lives.  As a homesick child, when I was sent to live with them on so many occasions, I lay in my bed and listened to it chiming the hours.  It became a constant comfort to me then, but I no longer keep it wound since it is quite heavy and sits too high for my short stature to reach any longer.  It sits  beside a smaller English clock and the two of them quietly convene throughout the hours.

One of the two which are kept running belonged to my grandmother’s husband, and has a lovely Westminster chime.  It passed down to my parents and then into my care some years ago.  Another antique wall clock was discovered hiding in a charming old shop in Edmond, WA. a very long time ago too, and caused some excitement to our clock friend when he first saw it as it was missing an ornament on its top.  He immediately went online and found the correct piece which was duly implemented.  There are a couple of annoying cuckoo clocks, one of which actually came from a trip to Germany in my suitcase.   Another Navy clock reminds Dr. Advice that he once sailed the seas, and keeps it as his responsibility to readjust it according to whether it is Daylight Savings Time or Real time.  A small Early American kitchen shelf/mantle clock which probably sold for a very small price from a catalogue when new, and for which we lightened our wallets a bit, was meant for a granddaughter, but alas, at this time, she hasn’t a mantle or a shelf on which to put it.

There is one uniform time-keeper  which keeps all the rest honest; and that is the computer which keeps track of the time and the date, so that we can all rest easily.