Cuckoo Clock

I do like a new take on an old theme and you don’t get much more old school than the cuckoo clock. This gorgeous grey number is from Cox and Cox and it has just arrived in stock. It’s a Taiwanese design and, in addition to the traditional cuckoo, there is another bird that comes with it that you stick on the wall nearby so it’s a little bit more art than plain clock. Without sounding too poncey, I just mean that, well it fills the wall with a little more pazazz (as the 11yo would say) than if it were just there to tell the time.

The other good thing about it, which despite the Swiss brilliance for all things timing related I’m not aware of being a feature on the traditional cuckoo clock, is that, in addition to volume control, you can set the clock to your local timings which means that it will only sing between the hours of 6am and 10pm. Which pretty much means you can have it in a bedroom if you want. I mean obviously not if you work nightshifts. Or don’t have children at the weekend. But for the rest of us, with or without small children, working your basic nine to five, a little gentle birdsong at 6am isn’t a disaster.

Because that’s the other thing. The bird doesn’t come barrelling out of the house yelling cuckoo, cucKOO, CUC BLOODYKOO GET UP OUT OF YOUR PIT YOU LAZY PERSON. No, it doesn’t do that. It slides quietly out, chirrups tunefully for a few seconds and goes home again. You can also turn the sound off if you wish. Although the volume control is at the back so you don’t really want to be fiddling with it all the time as you will have to keep taking it off the wall. Silent, quiet or loud should be enough options for most of us.

Having said all that it’s a matter of time how long mine survives. So far Enid cat just wakes up and stares balefully at it on the hour. I need to get it on a wall fast before she decides to investigate if the bird is actually masquerading as lunch.