From Time to Times

I want to be sure you realize the title is not a typo. I meant to say ‘Times.”

I was looking at pictures that randomly appeared on my digital frame. The frame has a database of about 10,000 photos from which it chooses. Most shots bring back memories shared with others, happy times. 

The one image that got me thinking was that of a clock I saw in Greenwich, England. I’m fascinated by how humans measure time. Please don’t ask me why because I don’t know!

Part of the display at the Centre of Greenwich Mean Time was the history of Man’s sharing of time. What an exciting concept. In the early days, we had hourglasses. We would tip it over, and everybody in sight of the timer agreed when an hour had passed.

I may be skipping some steps, but then we had towers, particularly in towns where there would be ‘the town clock.’ All who were in sight of the clock would agree on the time. Add a chime every hour, and everybody within hearing knew the time. “Kids, come home right away when you hear the bell chime 8.”

Now we could add Town Criers who let all know, within shouting distance, what time in the evening it was and most likely added that ‘all is well.’

Along came electricity and things changed dramatically. We had clocks in many homes. They weren’t as accurate as the clocks we have now. I remember when it was common to call the telephone operator to ‘share’ her time so I could adjust my clock. The next apparent time-sharing service was to automate the operator with a robotic-like time statement.

Clocks got more accurate. Some were linked to satellites to correct themselves. And now, we have precise time display all around us and in our pockets. We have eliminated the need to share time.

We have, however, not lost interest in times. See how I snuck back to the title. 

The picture of the clock in the digital frame was me sharing times gone by. We do it all the time. Digital images allow us to share times gone by. Old D-Day images of strangers and something I have no direct experience with. Or of a family and friends get together when I could not be there. I enjoy seeing images of my parents in their younger days.

Please give this a bit of a think. How do you share times gone by? Who do you share them with? Are there patterns of subject matter; sunsets, food, people?

I’m curious about your thoughts. Please share your bit of a think below.

Featured Image: This is one of the early versions, one of four clocks, that was used on a ship to determine the time very accurately. Along with a sexton, this allowed ships to know where they were. This saved thousands of sailors’ lives after its invention.

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