Current dispute about expensive wrist watches had me considering my very first watch, which my daddy purchased when I was a kid. He was a stickler for punctuality and disliked being late for anything. When he offered me the watch it included sage-like guidance. He informed me to constantly set it a couple of minutes quickly so I would not be late, and to this day it has actually shown smart counsel. Obviously it didn’t stop me being late, however a minimum of I was 2 or 3 minutes previously in my lateness than I would otherwise have actually been, if that makes good sense.
It was an inexpensive and rather plain watch, however I grew connected to it and after that all of a sudden lost it, leaving it in the school altering spaces. At my school the possibilities of somebody handing it in were around no. I identified an older student using a similar watch simply a couple of days later on, however as he was two times my size it felt sensible to keep my trap shut. Football altering spaces were to sporadically declare more monitor the years.
That may describe why I are among those unusual individuals who does not see the point of having a costly watch, specifically as I will more than likely lose it. All I need is one that informs the time fairly properly. An inexpensive watch from Pratunam market carries out that function simply as well as a bejewelled watch that costs nearly as much as a Ferrari.
And it does not matter how pricey your watch may be, it will not avoid you from being late, especially in Bangkok where getting here on time is something of a small wonder.
Ticking all packages
In nowadays of smart phones, individuals do not require watches to inform the time. So why pay a little fortune for something that is not actually required? It’s potentially since a watch is perhaps the only type of jewellery, apart from rings, that a male can use without getting amusing appearances. It can likewise act as status sign, letting everybody understand that you have “made it”, or believe you have.
There is another strange minority who have a state of mind that makes them desire something just since it is pricey. These are the exact same individuals who pay 9,999 baht for a bottle of red wine when there is a completely good 850 baht bottle of plonk readily available at the regional grocery store (however not if you attempt and purchase it in between 2pm and 5pm. What an unusual law that is).
Grandmother’s clock
One type of watch I have actually constantly had a love for are grandpa clocks, initially called “longcase clocks”. My grandma had such a clock in her corridor and when I was a kid it overlooked me and had remarkably loud chimes sounding every 15 minutes. I was captivated by the big pendulum and could not withstand having fun with it, which naturally didn’t assist the clock’s timekeeping.
Grandpa clocks were so called after the 1876 tune My Grandpa’s Clock composed by Henry Clay Work, an American much better understood for Marching Through Georgia He was motivated to compose the grandpa lyrics after seeing such a clock in a Durham hotel. He was informed that when the very first owner passed away the clock started to waste time and when the 2nd owner died it quit working entirely. Therefore the rather melancholy chorus:
It was purchased on the morn of the day that he was born
And was constantly his satisfaction and pride
However it stopped brief – never ever to go once again
When the old male passed away
Wonderful mud
I initially heard the Grandpa’s Clock tune on BBC Radio’s Kid’s Favourites which was nearly mandatory listening for British kids on a Saturday early morning in the 1950s. It was hosted by “Uncle Mac” who constantly started the program with “Hey there kids, all over”.
The program frequently included novelty tunes. I especially liked The Runaway Train and might imagine the steam engine speeding out of control along the tracks blowing its whistle.
Another individual favourite was The Chuckling Cop, “a jolly red-faced male, who chuckled up until he wept”.
Other regulars were The Hippopotamus Tune, with the stirring refrain “Mud, mud, remarkable mud”, The Awful Duckling and Nellie the Elephant who notoriously got away the circus, “loaded her trunk and rotated back to the jungle”.
I likewise delighted in They’re Altering Guard at Buckingham Palace including AA Milne’s Christopher Robin and Alice, and might envision them standing outside the palace wishing to find a royal personage keeping an eye out from behind the drapes.
It struck home with me as when I was 8, my mum took me to take a look at Buckingham Palace and I half-expected to find a young Queen Elizabeth peering out of a window. Sadly she was not to be seen – not even a roaming corgi.
Unfortunate seahorses
A story which want I had not seen throughout the week worried the “seahorse kebabs” on sale in Pattaya, obviously for Chinese male travelers looking for an aphrodisiac. The seahorses, so called since the head and neck have a distinct equine look, are such stunning animals and among Nature’s artworks.
The idea of desperate gentlemen of any citizenship chomping them on a stick suffices to make you feel rather ill. With a little bit of luck the seahorses will strike back with their own variation of “Montezuma’s vengeance”.
Contact Postscript through e-mail at oldcrutch@gmail.com
Roger Crutchley
Bangkok Post writer
A long period of time popular Bangkok Post writer. In 1994 he won the Ayumongkol Literary Award. For several years he was Sports Editor at the Bangkok Post.
Email: oldcrutch@gmail.com
