It's been a while since I was last here but in my defence time did stand still since then. Admittedly this was because the cuckoo clock in our living room stopped (again) - but it's Swiss made so that's got to count for something !
I freely but sheepishly admit to a personal superstition about clocks - I don't like having stopped clocks in house. That's not to say I prefer them scampering around the house like Cogsworth from Beauty & the Beast - just showing the time, all the time even if in-accurately. If a clock stops I immediately rush out to get new batteries - the ones at home invariably turn invisible till just after I get back from the store. If the batteries don't do the trick (or the tick if you prefer) then it's time to bid goodbye to the clock. Think of it as a kind of non-ticking time-less bomb in my mind that has to go. This rule has been uniformly applied since time immemorial (see what I did there - "time" immemorial) except to the aforementioned cuckoo clock. I'm crazy about that thing - cuckoo about it you could say.
I am fascinated with cuckoo clocks & had always wanted one. The opportunity to do so presented itself a few years ago when Priya had occasion to break journey in Switzerland on a business trip. She let herself be swayed by the cuckoo clock cause & made the side trip to Lucerne to acquire a beautiful, traditional Swiss Chalet style piece. After an arduous but uneventful journey through Israel & then back to India the clock suffered the indignity of staying packed for 6 months till our house was ready for us to move into & only then took up it's rightful place on the drawing room wall. It's been chiming in hour on hour ever since - except for when it doesn't that is.
Unfortunately it's one of those particularly finicky tourists who good intentions aside doesn't really have the constitution to take on the heat, dust, humidity & the noise. The clock soldiers on (ticks on ?) until the accumulated aches & pains throw it off it's stride & time stands still again. The drill for this particular occasion is different. No batteries needed as it's mechanical so the clock gets packed & a visit to a carefully chosen watch repair shop is in order. This usually does not happen immediately as the shop is on "the road less traveled" as far as our daily routine goes & sometimes months pass before the trip. Over the last 5 years it's probably spent a year & a half off the wall or at the shop - they probably think of it as their clock that they rent to us for extended durations of time !
The most recent surgical procedure went like clock-work, the watch maker ticked all the boxes so to say & we can now watch it ticking away. I would describe the chimes & the notes but it's just struck me that it's time to go - after-all time stops for no one.
