Tick Tock

This is the wall hanger that hangs the clock. This is the wall hanger that hangs Hubby’s grandchild clock with the beautiful chimes. This is the clock that is off the wall so that when the roofers scrape shingles nothing falls off the walls.

This clock is right in the living room and on a central wall. It is the clock of our house. We’re not terribly concerned with exact time, and besides, our other clocks give us exact times. The bedroom alarm clock tells me exactly what time I have to be out of bed and, later, what time I have to have my hair done by so I’m not late to work. That clock is fast but I intentionally forget how fast so I don’t think I can sleep in or dawdle. The clock on the kitchen microwave tells us exactly what time we have to leave for work so we’re not late. That clock is also fast, I’m not sure if by more or less than the bedroom clock, and again, it doesn’t matter. The clock in the car is fast enough that if I leave my car in the lot at 7:30 I am walking into my office cubicle at 7:30 by my government-issued phone-with-a-clock and they’re pretty serious about time. There’s also a little clock that my Grandma gave me as a gift by the TV in the living room. It keeps pretty good time but basically if its off my a few minutes and I miss the beginning of the News Hour with Jim Lehrer or BBC World News what does it really matter? By that time I’ve had NPR running for at least an hour so I’m pretty familiar with what’s going on.

The grandchild clock has to be wound so it is perpetually slow. Slooooowwwwwwww. When it’s off by 5 or more minutes I fix it. Otherwise, not really. But as I said earlier, it is the clock of the house, so everything not previously mentioned gets done by it. This includes all activities not related to going to work. That’s orcharding and sledding, that’s going to the park and doing the shopping, that’s figuring out if a neighbor is home from work yet when you need to talk to them, that’s seeing how light out its staying in the evenings now. That’s a lot of time. It also chimes on the hour and on the half, so its a constant mental backdrop and a friend when you’re up late at night or sick, or on the Internet too long. I’ll be glad when the lovely chimes are back a chimin’.