Only in Switzerland

Clock Tower: A Love Story

Is it possible to miss a clock tower? In other words, is it possible to miss a dinging, every fifteen-minute, 24/7 reminder of just exactly how much time I've just wasted on Facebook? A couple years ago, I would have said, no. No way. It is not possible to miss something like that.

But the last time I was in the Chicago suburbs, I was lying in bed listening to silence, wishing I could hear what time it was. It was then that I discovered something: I have grown accustomed to my Swiss clock tower. In fact, I may have grown to love it.

My relationship with the clock tower wasn't always so happy. When I first moved in, I loved the Disney World looks of it from my apartment. But then I ended up cursing it, because surely, I thought, it would shut off at night, right after 10 dings, along with the rest of the city lights.

Then I started to get used to it. I never missed the train to work (2 dings). I never rang my neighbor's bell a second too early or a second too late (4 dings, then 7, for a 7 p.m. dinner). And for the most part, I stopped hearing it (no dings!).

But then hatred started up once again when the clock tower went under scaffolding for almost two years. It was ugly. It was noisy. And then, instead of a clock face, I was looking right in the eyes of Swiss construction workers, who were staring at me in my Strawberry Shortcake pajamas. Yikes.

Now, though, the scaffolding is gone, the construction workers have moved to the building next door, and it's just me and the clock, once again. And while its new white paint and blue facelift make it look even more Disney than before, that's ok. Because I'm starting to believe that despite all odds (I mean, all dings) we may actually live happily ever after. Or something like that.

No Ding Dong, the Clock is Dead

As some of you know, I have the pleasure of living about 15 feet from Baden's gigantic clock tower. This clock tower dings 24/7 every 15 minutes. When I first moved in, I thought, surely they turn off the thing at midnight. But that was wishful thinking.

So after about a month of fitful sleep listening to the clock remind me every fifteen minutes that I was still awake, I suddenly stopped hearing it. I don't know if this was out of utter exhaustion or if I just got used to the midnight bangs, but the clock and I learned to be at peace with each other.

Well ok. I still feel like swearing at it sometimes at 3am, but nevertheless I count on it to get me places on time. For example, I always listen for it to ding two times at 8.30 so I don't miss my 8.38 train. It's never let me down. But last week I failed to hear my 8.30 ding and just managed to catch the train by mere seconds. Later I thought, either my hearing's really done in or the clock is broken.

But Swiss clocks don't just break. Do they? Granted this clock tower has been under construction since last February. I haven't been able to see the clock face in a year, but a little scaffolding never stopped a Swiss clock from its ability to ding and dong its way to creating anything less than a punctual population. Even I've adjusted to settling for just hearing the time instead of seeing it.

But now, a week after the near train miss, I realize that the clock really isn't dinging. Now if I had seen my neighbor in the last week or so, I'm sure she would have informed me of the poor clock's fate since she seems to enjoy construction schedules as much as I love chocolate. But I haven't seen her. I wonder how she's surviving without our trusty time machine. Not well, I'd imagine, since she's got 33 years on me living next to it.

But despite my lack of dings and dongs, it's not exactly quiet around here. Constant construction in the main square has been threatening my sanity since last February and another obnoxious Baden Carnival is just around the corner. Still, in this country, I'll take any reduction of noise I can get. Even if that means missing a few Swiss trains.