Anybody who follows my Twitter account knows that I have rather an obsession with clocks. Proper, real, analogue clocks, not those digital imposters. You may wonder what it is that I find so wonderful about time pieces - well, I shall try my best to explain it to you.
For me clocks are reliable, they have honest faces and they practically smile at you from churches and towers up and down the country. They are a memory of happy times, a promise of hours to come, they are a tradition and a future. In short, they are just perfect and wonderful.
The first clock I ever really remember was a similar shape to the one above but made of proper non polished wood. It was where I learned to read Roman numerals and where I was quizzed about my time telling. The clock was my Grandad's retirement present and adorned our mantlepiece throughout my childhood. Every Sunday there was the ritual of winding it up for the week. This was always done by my grandfather no matter how many times I asked to do it. It could be overwound he told me, it was very delicate, perhaps I could do it 'When I was a grown up' Sadly, by the time I was grown both my Grandad and the clock had passed away.
Other clocks that loomed large in my childhood were the clock on the Royal Liver Building and the one on Big Ben's clock tower. The Liver Building clock was a sign that the long bus ride to Liverpool was finally at an end and I had made it without being bus sick! I loved seeing that clock.
When I was 8 my parents took me to London and I was so excited to see Big Ben - I didn't know it was a bell then and thought it was that wonderful clock that towered over the city, big and strong, making sure everyone in London arrived at their destination on time. I don't know how many times I made my parents walk past it that holiday just so that I could see it again but they were very patient. Eventually my father bought me a postcard of it and told me that I didn't need to walk past it again because I could carry it with me. I kept that postcard until I was 21.
I can remember the excitement of being bought my first watch, which was basically a wrist clock, a big face with clear numbers, two hands, no second finger to confuse me, just a very large face with a leather strap to fasten it around my tiny wrist. I spent the whole day looking at it proudly, watching each minute pass, Goodness knows what I missed that day.
Then, in my teens, came the advent of the digital watch. The hideous, impersonal, unfriendly digital watch. I got one, everybody had one. I hated it. It was unfriendly and controlling in my view. On my wrist clock I could watch the hands moving as the face smiled at me - on the digital watch there were just the flashing dots in the middle counting the seconds of my life away. To this day I hate digital clocks and watches. I know they are supposed to be more accurate but to me it's like taking my mother away and giving me an android trained to cook perfect meals, answer every homework question and have every bedtime story ever told in their memory banks - it's very good but I'll keep my mother thank you. You could offer me a digital clock made of solid gold and I'd swap it for a discount store analogue one that smiled Good Morning every sunrise.
I am quite open to viewing wonderfully scientific and historical clocks and one of my big ambitions is to travel to Prague to see their wonderful Astronomical clock. It was installed in 1410, is the 3rd oldest in the world, but the oldest one still operating. Just look at the photograph (courtesy of Wikipedia) - how truly wonderful is that? Maybe your digital wonders can tell you all the same things but they will never be as beautiful.
There is something reassuring about a clock. If I arrive in a new town or city and see a huge clock smiling down at me then I know that I am safe and it is a nice city. If I arrive and see a digital clock counting down the minutes of my life, then I distrust that city and am immediately on my guard.
There are so many wonderful clocks around the country so, next time you are out and about, look up for them and I promise you'll find that they smile at you and say 'Welcome Stranger, spend some time' for, indeed, time is all we have.
