Rock around the clock

A miserable day - low cloud and drizzle from the beginning. Why can't we have a day of sunshine so I can go out and rake leaves? Instead of which I'm stuck in front of the screen 'working'. 

Last night we had a Scottish Wildlife Trust meeting. The subject was 'The Reintroduction of the Lynx'. The speaker, from the Vincent Wildlife Trust, was telling us about the huge amount of research which they've done into the subject, describing all sorts of scenarios, many for or against arguments, lots of advantages and disadvantages. After the talk we split up into groups and discussed our views on the subject. Interesting, but I can't imagine there will ever be a consensus.

I got our chairman to beg, yet again, for some new ideas for future speakers. As Programme Secretary it's my job to sign up speakers for our winter evening meetings and I'm still short for the beginning of next year. Fortunately several members came up with ideas, so I must follow them up.

No ideas for a Blip and visibility outside is very limited, so today I've had to settle for an EB. These two clocks sit side by side on the sideboard. On the left is a Camerer Cuss bracket clock which used to belong to my grandfather. Joseph Kammerer was a German gentleman who was supposed to have introduced cuckoo clocks to the UK back in the 1730s and his descendant Andrew later worked with his family friend David Kuss. They came to London in 1845 to import Black Forest clocks and their company later became Camerer, Kuss & Co., and then finally in 1914 the anti-German feeling of the time suggested that it should be anglicised to Camerer and Cuss. My clock is engraved with 'Camerer and Kuss' so I imagine must predate 1914. It's currently not working - I imagine it needs a good clean.

The little Azizoff carriage clock is topped and bottomed with onyx so for once the song title fits the picture! This was presented to me in 1988 after organising a garden at the Glasgow Garden Festival for the Professional Gardeners' Guild. That was a job and a half! Seems like a lifetime away now.