Please let the clock tell the time

An original imagined letter to a local newspaper.

Sir,

I have read the affectionate letters about our town clock, whose hands have occupied twenty past four since the spring. I agree that it is handsome. I also agree that the square would look poorer without it. I am less persuaded that failing to tell the time is the source of its charm.

We are told that everyone knows it is wrong. Everyone is a remarkable person in this town. Everyone has lived here for years, carries another clock in a pocket and never arrives tired beneath the tower wondering whether the bus has gone. I have yet to meet this convenient citizen.

A visitor should not need a local historian to discover that the large public statement above the square is ornamental. Nor should a person who forgets a watch be required to admire their own uncertainty. Repair would allow the familiar face to keep doing something for the people looking up at it.

I do not propose replacing the tower with a glowing advertisement. Keep the stone, keep the numerals, keep the birds who appear to have acquired the ledge without consulting any of us. Let the hands move too.

Yours faithfully,

A resident who occasionally needs the time

Examine the methods the writer uses to persuade readers that the town clock should be repaired.