Slightly Bemused writes:

I have been having trouble sleeping recently. And the other day I figured out a reason. I felt I needed an extra hour of sleep before the schlep to my work. So I used my kitchen egg timer, a simple clockwork jobbie, and it ticks. I fell right off.

Many years ago, as I started on my travels, my beloved aunt Nuala gave me a travel alarm clock. A simple folding job, when closed it was encased for travel, and unfolded open when needed. Mostly I kept it closed, under my pillow when no bedside table was available. And it ticked, quietly as it lulled me to the land of nod.

I have had many other clocks, but there was something sweet in the gentle lure of that one. Without making a pun, I am not sure where it wound up, but I always slept well with it by my side.

These days I have a digital clock radio. It uses a system known as a phase locked loop to ensure it keeps time. My digital phone is locked to the phone company’s time clock. But my radio drifts by a minute a week. My phone company occasionally drifts.

But a man called John Harrison, not a watch maker but a carpenter, invented a clock running on gears and springs that was less than a second out across thousands of miles of turbulent seas to allow sailors know where they were. A clock made in the 1700s by the hand of a carpenter was, and possibly still is, more accurate than my digital clock. And my aunt’s little clock kept better time. The tick of the kitchen timer lured me, with true clockwork precision. The tick of the new clock is merely that.

Strangely I am reminded of the wonderful television adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy from the 80s.They thought digital watches were the greatest thing ever, and Arthur Dent got upset when he lost his. Admittedly he lost his arm too, decided to go mad, and chased a sofa. I am not sure what any of that had to do with digital watches.

Where I work I am constantly reminded of that show. The lift talks to me. Thankfully does not say ‘Glad To Be Of Service’, but it is not far off. And we play what I like to call lift lottery. Different people can call it as a priority, so you get in, and think you are going up, but you may end up going down. A lot more more accurate than my current clock, it knows where it is going, but sometimes I do not.

Somewhere out there is a timepiece that kept time to the dreams of my soul. I hope I can find it, and pass it on to the Little lady of my heart, and it can keep her safe too.

Slightly Bemused‘s column appears here every Wednesday.

Alamy