Hands of Time

Hands of Time

Noel Laflin

10-31-20

As my father instructed me long ago and as I remind David twice a year (tonight being one of those times), we never move the minute hand on either the grandmother’s clock or the cuckoo clock in a backward motion.  To do so would jam the works.  Westminster chimes would chime no more and the annoying bird from the Black Forest would refuse to open its door and announce the hour. So when it’s time to fall back, the pendulums are merely stopped and given back their swing an hour later when time has caught up once again.

Of the many clocks and watches in the house, these two mean the most to me, as both are old, made by hand, and represent an age that I still relate to the most – analog.  Digital is fine, but I feel most at home with minute and hour hands slowly making their way around the face of time.  Slow is fine by me nowadays anyway.

Besides, digital can’t cuckoo.