Mum and the Clock That Stopped

This is the clock that, until recently, hung on the wall of Mum's kitchen at 17 Windmill Gardens in Kibworth. You can't tell from this photo, but it's stopped. It's been frozen for the past year at the time of twenty to twelve.

On December 30th 2018 Mum died. Hev and I got the phone call from my sister Jude, while we were about to visit a stately home in Somerset, the morning after our traditional mid-Christmas party. We'd been up to see Mum in the care home just the day before. Jude phoned us just after midday on December 30th, having had the word from the care home. Meaning that Mum had died at approximately 11.40. Hev and I dashed straight up there and saw the New Year in for the last time in the old family home together.

And it was while we were seeing the New Year in that we realised the clock had stopped, at 11.40 on the morning of the 30th. Exactly (we like to think) at the time Mum died. With perfect poetry she'd stopped the clock, which never moved again.

Well, it never moved again until the start of December 2019 when we finally sold the old house, and we left the clock as one of the items to be cleared. So Mum, if your spirit did end up inside that clock, I can only apologise that right now you're probably residing in a charity shop in Market Harborough. But, on the plus side, you did always like charity shops. Happy Anniversary Mumsie.

Kev F, Dec 30th 2019.

This is the clock in one of the bedrooms which, I think, we have held onto. I only belatedly noticed that it, too, had stopped at 11.40. Though I have a vague notion it stopped there, its spring having broken, at sometime in the 1980s. Still, spooky eh?

You can read all about Mum, Corral Sutherland, in her obit from earlier this year.

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries & art centres. email for details. Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here. 

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre will be touring near you sometime. Catch up with them on Facebook for the latest.