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Pub Collections

Playing darts in different leagues means that I visit quite large numbers of pubs round the area where I live and many of them display various types of collections on their walls and shelves. Beer mats are a common theme as can be seen at the Green Man in Milwich. For many years the Bankhouse in Hixon used to pin up foreign bank notes that its customers brought back from their holiday trips around the world. One pub that I played at many years ago, (The Fox & Hounds, Great Haywood,) had a collection of hundreds of match boxes stuck to the walls. Toby jugs are sometimes seen as well, but the pub I played in last week, the Seven Stars at Sandon, has a large collection, amounting to several dozen, clocks in its restaurant. Most of them are fairly small and some have pendulums and weights. There is I think, also the odd Cuckoo clock and Station clock, some are genuine old time pieces and some are modern repro’s. It is quite an impressive display and when I first saw it the Landlord told me that he had bought nearly all of them at car boots for only a few pounds each. Most of them had needed some minor repairs that he had done himself.

During the match I told one of my fellow players about the pubs clocks and said I had a mild interest in clocks. I told him that I had a “Ball Bearing clock” in my office at home and also quite an impressive modern repro’ “Grand Father Clock.” The only problem with the clock, I told him, “Is that it is dislexic. It can’t count. Very rarely does it strike the correct number of chimes on the hour. Visitors will sometimes come in the middle of the afternoon and on the hour the clock chimes. As some people are liable to do, they count the dongs and when it strikes about 7 times they exclaim, “It can’t be that time already, it was only 3 O’Clock when I came out.” Occasionally it has even been known to strike 13 times on the hour which is certainly different.

My Aunt stayed with us once in the Summer and as old people often do, woke up just after dawn and counted the “Dongs,” which can clearly be heard all over the house when it is quiet. After about 9 chimes, she panicked and got out of bed to put the light on and see her watch thinking she was late getting up. It was of course 5 O’Clock, so sensibly she went back to bed, but we heard about it the next morning.

After finishing my tale to my fellow player about the “Grandfather Clock,” in my office, I continued, “Yes my clock is dislexic, it can’t count, I think it’s got a screw loose, but what else would you expect from a clock that belongs to me?” My friend covered his face with his hands and then after regaining his composure he turned to watch the darts.