General Chat

Love the altered lyrics, Dermot :-D

You know Dermot,

when I was a kid I thought that song was about a clock.............

Bob

My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf,
So it stood ninety years on the floor;
It was taller by half than the old man himself,
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.

It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born,
And was always his treasure and pride;
But it stopped short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

Ninety years without slumbering
(tock, tick, tock, tick),
His life's seconds numbering,
(tock, tick, tock, tick),
It stopp'd short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

In watching its pendulum swing to and fro,
Many hours had he spent while a boy;
And in childhood and manhood the clock seemed to know
And to share both his grief and his joy.

For it struck twenty-four when he entered at the door,
With a blooming and beautiful bride;
But it stopped short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

Ninety years without slumbering
(tock, tick, tock, tick),
His life's seconds numbering,
(tock, tick, tock, tick),
It stopped short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

My grandfather said that of those he could hire,
Not a servant so faithful he found;
For it wasted no time, and had but one desire —
At the close of each week to be wound.

And it kept in its place — not a frown upon its face,
And its hands never hung by its side.
But it stopped short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

Ninety years without slumbering
(tock, tick, tock, tick),
His life's seconds numbering,
(tock, tick, tock, tick),
It stopp'd short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

It rang an alarm in the dead of the night —
An alarm that for years had been dumb;
And we knew that his spirit was pluming for flight —
That his hour of departure had come.

Still the clock kept the time, with a soft and muffled chime,
As we silently stood by his side;
But it stopped short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

Ninety years without slumbering
(tock, tick, tock, tick),
His life's seconds numbering,
(tock, tick, tock, tick),
It stopped short — never to go again —
When the old man died.

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down!
Hickory Dickory Dock.

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The bird looked at the clock,
The clock struck two 2,
Away she flew,
Hickory Dickory Dock

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The dog barked at the clock,
The clock struck three 3,
Fiddle-de-dee,
Hickory Dickory Dock!

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The bear slept by the clock,
The clock struck four 4,
He ran out the door,
Hickory Dickory Dock!

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The bee buzzed round the clock,
The clock struck five 5,
She went to her hive,
Hickory Dickory Dock!

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The hen pecked at the clock,
The clock struck six 6,
Oh, fiddle-sticks,
Hickory Dickory Dock!

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The cat ran round the clock,
The clock struck seven 7,
She wanted to get 'em,
Hickory Dickory Dock!

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The horse jumped over the clock,
The clock struck eight 8,
He ate some cake,
Hickory Dickory Dock!

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The cow danced on the clock,
The clock struck nine 9,
She felt so fine,
Hickory Dickory Dock!

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The pig oinked at the clock,
The clock struck ten 10,
She did it again,
Hickory Dickory Dock!

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The duck quacked at the clock
The clock struck eleven 11,
The duck said 'oh heavens!'
Hickory Dickory Dock!

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck noon
He's here too soon!
Hickory Dickory Dock!

Lol, Lavender, one day he will find you out bless him.

My baby grandson would be thrilled. He stands up and stares at our grandfather clock with its big, brass face. It's been lifeless for decades.

It can't be making much sense to him as we look at it singing Hickory Dickory, ending with Tick Tock, Tick Tock!

:-D :-D :-D

The art of good story telling is making it seem almost believable

As for the 'D' size battery, my internal workings require 2 'AA' batteries :-D :-D :-D :-D

Allan, you had me hooked with your interesting thread as I love to repair clocks and pocket watches ... since the late 1960s.
I almost believed you ... until you wrote ...

"Ve have vays of making you tock"

I am sure you know what we all think you can do with that 'D' size battery!

Be good!

Bob,

Of course the pendulum on a battery operated clock is only for show.

Even a dim-witted Ozzie like me knows that

This was started as a 'tongue-in-cheek' thread and was not meant to be taken seriously ;-)

There can be a lot of patience involved in setting up a clocks' pendulum.!!

I have a large chiming mantel clock made in Germany about 1930. It was liberated by a rellie in the 8th army 1945. Despite its origins it has what are called "Westminster chimes" for the quarters and a deep set of bongs before the hour.

It is hell on wheels to set up the pendulum and it hates being moved. Once setup it keeps excellent time.

Sometimes it tick tocks but if in a bad mood tock tick which drives me nuts. A few minutes before the hourly bongs it gets in a tizzy as its gears whirr for the effort.

If we have been away leaving it unwound it retaliates with a grand salvo of bongs once wound before settling down.

Mechanical clocks and watches have personalities much better than electrical and quartz devices.

:-)

We went into a clock shop in the Black Forest in Germany.

tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock

And then it was the hour....... OMG! All the Binging and Bonging and all the dome clocks chiming was bad enough, but add a thousand cuckoo clocks to the mix!

It put me off cuckoo clocks for life.

My youngest daughter loves everything to do with geography. ( hobby only)
We bought her lovely a clock with 5 faces, showing the times in 5 major cities around the world.

We think it's funny but It drives her mad at night
No two second hands tick at the same time.... 5 ticks per second!

The grandfather clock we have has a peculiar function......
when wound(chain/weights)

one week it will gain, the next week it will lose......

we have a battery operated one that goes

tsk tsk tsk tsk

or is it chff chff chff chff?

Allan quite likely the pendulum has nothing to do with timekeeping but is just for show.........

OH's parents had 3 grandfather clocks ........ all inherited from different ancestors.


Back around 1974, in-laws decided to move to a smaller house, and needed to get rid of 2 of the clocks.


One was to come to us, one had been designated for OH's sister, and the 3rd had no home ..................... largely because it didn't work.


anyway, they shipped ours over to us, kept the one meant for sis-i-l ................... and gave the third to m-i-l's sister, who then lived in Manchester


the rationale was that M/c was a big city, and would have at least one good clockmaker living there .........................



the problem with the clock was that it had never learnt that it did not have to strike 13 at 1 am


Aunt found the proverbial little man who swore he could repair the clock.

He had it for several months, then phoned and said he'd done it.


Clock delivered to their house, set up, wound (one of those lovely chain and weight mechanisms) .......... and everyone waited


Midnight came ................... it struck twelve times

1 am ................ and it struck once, then twice .................. all the way to thirteen


Clock was stopped ................. never to go again!




It is still in the family ................. Aunt left it to her daughter, and it will now probably go to the daughter's daughter ............................ but it still sits silent and still in the corner.



Ours works well, it has been dated back to pre-1830 ........ although it is not working at the moment .............. the weight fell off one night :-0



that makes one h**l of a noise :-)


The link broke, and OH has not got around to replacing it.

It's funny that you should say that PSD, as we once had a clock that only went tick tick tick

I took it to our local watchmaker who is either Swiss or German.

I told him what the problem was and he said to leave the clock with him and he would call me back within three days.

After a week, with no news, I went back to the shop which was not staffed. I could, however hear a voice coming from the cellar so decided to have a look

There was my clock strapped to a chair. the watchmaker was stood behind a desk which had a spotlight shining straight at the clock.

The man was dressed in an army uniform and he was slapping a riding crop against his leather boots as he angrily shouted at the clock

"Ve have vays of making you tock"

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Lol why not ask someone who fixes clocks why it tocks then ticks.

Gwen you might have a valuable clock in your loft. I can never understand why someone needs to be reminded of the time that often to have it chiming so frequently

Lizxx

We'll never know, Scozz :-( :-D :-D

the previous owner probably removed the bell because it went BONG BING

:-D