Stop all the clocks
27 October 2009
It was whilst lounging lazily at a friend’s house that I heard it. An enchanting noise that has all but been lost now.
Having a predilection for the bygone age, a soft spot for the ways of old, it was with great pleasure that I heard the reassuringly deep baritone voice of a Grandfather clock residing in the corner of the room. It announced the arrival of each hour with such a gloriously grandiose series of chimes that warmed the heart.
The mechanics that dwelled inside the wooden casing were approaching 300 years of age, and they had to be adjusted when British Summer Time came to an abrupt end and the clocks went back one hour. The result of which is a dark and gloomy drive home and the acknowledgement that Christmas is just around the corner.
So at the risk of breaking into a rendition of Cher’s ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’, I trudged around my own house and adjusted all the clocks, but was pleased to see that the radio controlled clock had adjusted to the correct time. And that got me thinking; why aren’t all modern clocks and watches self-adjusting? When time is so fundamentally important to our every action, it’s essential to have the correct time.
Whilst I’m not expecting Stuart-built timepieces to feature the necessary electronics to receive a radio signal, it should surely be de rigueur in cars at least. If the GPS can track my position anywhere on the globe to within a few metres, why do I need to dig out a cocktail stick and prod a few buttons twice a year?
When I was much younger, the year 2000 was always held in high esteem as the futuristic year when we’d be in flying cars that drive themselves, and I grew-up thinking that 88mph, whilst being illegal, would also transport me back to the late 1950s. But then, whilst DeLoreans do, German hatchbacks don’t have a flux capacitor on the options list. Metallic paint and alloy wheels feature, but never the essential gizmos to turn a VW into a time machine.
But although we’re unable to jump between decades, we are living in a truly exciting time. One of the news stories on EMTww this week (Boost for data storage) reports that North Carolina State University engineers have created a new material that would allow a fingernail-size computer chip to store the equivalent of 20 high-definition DVDs, or 250 million pages of text.
Seeing the swinging pendulum of that old Grandfather clock reminded me that time is ticking away, and 2009 will soon be a memory, but before it disappears completely, we should visit an industry event and make the most of this unique period of time. Our diary has a comprehensive list of exhibitions and conferences for the remainder of 2009, as well as events planned for 2010. Go along, meet colleagues, and share this special time of economic recovery and innovation.
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