Odd Jobs

Jobs for this weekend:
1. Drive to Crick to change Herbie’s nappies
2. Drive from Crick to Halesowen to buy a clock that doesn’t tell the time

Hmm I can see that you might be excused for thinking I’ve finally lost the plot.  Perhaps I should explain.

1.  Herbie does indeed wear nappies.  We use cheap disposables to absorb any fluids that leak into the engine sump tray. Most effective they are too, providing you pull of the elasticated edges so they lie flat. When they are saturated just pop them in a plastic bag and dispose.  Herbie has had a small but persistent diesel leak from the fuel filter.  I think I might now have tracked down the source and with luck can cure it by replacing a washer.  Leaks are swines to cure sometimes.  You fix where you think it is and then you find it’s somewhere else.

2.  Now about this clock.  I bought it off Ebay and I have to collect it because it is big and heavy.  The literature on these clocks say they are accurate to within 8 seconds a month.  Not bad for a pendulum clock.  The problem is it has no face so although it keeps good time it doesn’t let you know what it is!

Have I gone completely mad? 

Au contraire mes amis.

You see it is a GPO master clock as used in old telephone exchanges to time calls etc. It is capable of sending out an electrical pulse every 1,6, or 30 seconds, and these pulses work a slave clock which does have a dial.  Aah, so do I have a slave clock?  Well, not yet, but they do come up on ebay quite often so its only a matter of time.  Which of course I can’t tell.

It’s all Rick’s fault.  He has a small collection of master clocks and he made me want one.