Saturday, November 9, 2024

Under the Clocks

Last Sunday I met my Friend in Japan, who is no longer in Japan and three of her friends. One a paramedic who I think now trains paramedics, and a female couple, one a retired cop and the other a retired army officer. We got to know the first two through Ray's work, and the couple through our Friend in Japan. They are all women wearers of sensible shoes. 

They all have great senses of humour and we had a very nice lunch at Southbank. I left home at 11.40 to meet at 12.00 and I didn't get home until 3.00, so it must have been a good time. 

I told Phyliss I was meeting friends 'under the clocks' before going somewhere for lunch. He asked where was that. I replied it was public transport related and he straight away he came back with the correct answer. He is just so smart. 

So what does 'under the clocks' mean?

It means that you meet at the steps under the clocks at Melbourne Flinders Street Station. If your friend is late arriving, you may sit on the steps.

The clocks show the next departure time of most suburban train lines, as kind of an encouragement to dodge through moving traffic to catch your train. I've not looked closely at them for years but I do know they are now electronically connected to the train company's operation system. Into the 1980s they were manually adjusted by a person with a long stick. It was proposed to replace them with modern screens, but so great was the outcry, they were kept. I think very young people might struggle nowadays with clock faces, rather than digital. 

Meeting under the clocks has become somewhat redundant in the age of instant personal communication, plenty still meet under the clocks, and then one will text their friend to say, I am five minutes away, when they are at least fifteen minutes away. I hear it on trams all the time. I am five minutes away, when I know very well they ten minutes away.

Photo from Alamy.com There are three more clocks to the left of this photo. 

6 comments:

  1. What a wonderful short hand description for an excellent meeting place. I am sure that you are right about younger people having trouble with analogue clocks and I am glad you had such a good time.

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  2. P has mentioned that to me in the past. Obviously a good old Melbourne tradition.

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  3. For years it was my favourite place in the City to meet up. Apart from being a convenient location, the entrance to the station and the clocks also looked great.

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  4. Andrew, I wasn’t aware the clocks were still in working order, thought they were redundant but retained for heritage purposes. From now on I will take notice when approaching rather than running inside looking for the digital version. Marie, Cheltenham

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  5. I love that you still have this meeting place. Iconic.

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Under the Clocks

Last Sunday I met my Friend in Japan, who is no longer in Japan and three of her friends. One a paramedic who I think now trains paramedics,...