From time immemorial, the one question that fascinates man is �what is time?� Denis Waitely described it as an equal opportunity employer. Each one of us has the same number of hours everyday. The rich cannot buy more hours; nor can the scientists invent new minutes. And, we cannot save it today to spend on another day. And yet, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. As Denis put it, no matter how much time you have wasted, you still have an entire tomorrow.

A terrifying clock has been unveiled at the Cambridge University. John Taylor, the creator and funder of this extraordinary clock says: "Basically I view time as not on your side. He'll eat up every minute of your life, and as soon as one has gone he's salivating for the next. It's not a bad thing to remind students of. I never felt like this until I woke up on my 70th birthday, and was stricken at the thought of how much I still wanted to do, and how little time remained."



This is a clock that shows time as defined by Nepoleon I, �one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men.� It reminds us of our own mortality. It has no hands. It runs erratically. It slows down, speeds up and catches time. Little wonder it cost over one million dollars.

There is a fantasy version of an oversize grasshopper, a chronophage or �time eater� at the top of the clock. Its jaws open in the middle of a minute and shuts up at the 59th second. The hour hits with the portentous sound of a chain dropping into a coffin, reminding us that every hour takes us closer to death! Does time travel and do we stay? Perhaps , No. As Henry Austin Dobson said, Time stays and we go. Let us then learn to count the seconds by sensation rather than by the clock. And that is the message which the Corpus Christi College clock attempts to pass across.

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