Clocks by Jerome K. Jerome. Short summary

5 seconds

The author talks about clocks and gives examples from life when these devices were the culprits of ridiculous situations.
For example, the writer in his school days got up at 3 a.m. because of a faulty alarm clock.

1 minute

Jerome describes situations in which a poorly functioning clock was the cause of unpleasant incidents.

When he was a schoolboy, he would sometimes get out of bed at 3 a.m. because his alarm clock had a technical malfunction. The author would have a quick breakfast, get dressed, and then go outside. But after a few seconds, he was already very surprised that he could not see anyone outside. Moreover, it seemed strange to him that the light was only on in the windows of his house.

The author does not know how one can name a person who was under the same roof with such a clock for an entire month and yet did not break down at them. In the writer’s opinion, such a person either indulges in all sorts of idiotic manifestations of reality, or does not know how to choose the right scolding words.

Some watches, in Jerome’s opinion, make their owner late for the train. He has spent his whole life wondering which is worse — getting to the train platform 45 minutes before the train arrives, or missing it right in front of his own nose.