Does anybody really care?(About time?)
I don't wear a watch. (Ever contemplate that word as a reference to a time-keeping devise worn on the wrist? A watch...how the heck do you watch time?) Anyway, except for a brief period right around when I graduated from high school, I have never worn a watch.
The first and only wrist watch I ever had was one my sister, Erva, gave to me as a graduation present. It was a nice watch. Not a really fancy or expensive one, but not a cheap one either. She got it at the store where she worked, a place called Caron's. Caron's was own by Leslie Caron's parents. You may have heard of Ms. Caron. She was a wonderful dancer who starred in movies like, American in Paris, Gigi, Lili. Yes, her parent's lived on St. Thomas for many, many years, had an upscale jewelry/perfume/china store, and my sister worked for them.
So I got my first watch and I was thrilled. Now I too could look sagely at my wrist as if I had some place important to be at a specific time. But something wasn't right, it didn't keep the correct time. Erva took it to a watch repairman. I don't remember if it was in-store or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. The Caron's backed up their merchandise.
We got the watch back with the word that nothing could be found wrong. It was keeping excellent time. I put it on. I wore it for a day. But something was definitely wrong. It was NOT keeping the correct time. It was gaining time by leaps and bounds.
Erva took it back to repair guy. Again, it came back with a clean bill of health. I put it on. Again it would not keep the correct time. Erva, frustrated, reset the watch and put it on. It kept perfect time. She wore it for several days, no problem. She gave it back to me and...yep, it went crazy.
We experimented. I put on Erva's watch and...yep, it went crazy.
That's right, I don't wear a watch because I can't. No matter what kind of watch it is, it will gain as much as a half hour for every hour I wear it. When Stan and I first got married, he didn't believe me. I put on his watch (one of those battery powered ones) and...yep, it went crazy. Obviously I'm either radioactive or my magnetic poles are misaligned or I am genetically modified in such a way that time-keeping devises are allergic to me.
I don't miss wearing a watch. In fact I feel sorry for people who do because for many glancing at a watch becomes a kind of unconscious compulsive behavior. We have three clocks in the house, (which is plenty) the most precious one being the grandfather clock (pictured above) that my grandfather built when he was in high school. It's right around 100 years old (a little older probably) and still going strong.
Clocks are everywhere. On your computer, in your car, outside on banks and other businesses, in stores. And, in a pinch, I can ask just about any person walking by because 95 percent of the time he or she will be wearing a watch.
I have rarely not known what time it was. Not that I really care...but sometimes I too need to be somewhere at a specific time....
Do you wear a watch? Are you a time keeper/watcher? Or do you let it flow?
This is a nice live version. Enjoy.
