Coming back from the failed Tommy demonstration, I stopped in the wee corner shop for a clock. This aged timepiece worth vast sums of money, cost me £2. I needed a new, small clock, as I have to have a clock in all rooms. Thus I placed this by my bed, as it appeared the most suitable, the rest are all plastic Chinese things, unlike this imitation metal Chinese thing, and so I placed the clocks in suitable display.
Naturally, the blasted thing keeps me awake with the ticking!
I forgot it would do that, cheap digital clocks do not tick, this one does.
However, being so tired after a busy day yesterday I fell asleep quickly and forgot about it, until around 2:30 am when the ticking returned to my attention again.
When working I needed a watch, since my last one broke I have not required one, however, indoors I appear to need one constantly. I am always checking the time concerning my burning dinner, or trying to decide if I ought to visit Tesco, or seeking the time for the football, and if I can fit something else in before it. We are ruled by clocks more than robots or AI.
As you know it was the Sumerians, some 5000 BC who came up with the 60 minute hour. For some reason mathematicians can explain, they counted in 60s. Thus we have inherited, via the Babylonians, Assyrians, Egypt, Judea, Greece, Rome, Islamic scholars, the 60 seconds and 60 minutes routine. They of course, hat to wait until some Austrian developed the Cuckoo Clock before they could see the time in front of them. We see this in action at railway stations, football matches, A&E waiting times, and at the cooker. We are ruled by the clock, except when we wake in the middle of the night and cannot return to sleep! Bah!
Time does flow at different rates. It drags badly when waiting in the dentists waiting room, it stops altogether with a toe stubbed against a table leg, time drags slowly when a football team sees 8 minutes to play and they are struggling to keep the score to their advantage, on the other hand their opponents see the 8 minutes as 8 seconds fast disappearing. Time itself is consistent, but for us it changes with our needs.
When we are young time is always 'now.' Now we are old it is not quite like that. Yesterday, which turns out to be 1971, was when I was last fashionable, but some see kids this as the ancient days. Give them a slap! John Lennon was shot in 1980, that's 46 years ago! The personal computer and the Internet did not exists then. I realised earlier today that my brother passed away in 2018, that's already 8 years ago. Time can be counted in seconds, but it cannot stand still.
"O let not time deceive you, you cannot conquer time." W. H. Auden
