My Clock Struck 31

My clock struck 31, one morning last week. If you know me, that would really make you laugh, as you would have full knowledge of just how insane that would make me.

I have always worked hard to keep our striking clocks (only 2, thank goodness) lined up so they strike within a minute of each other. Optimally, one starts up just as the other is halfway done. (My daddy's old mantle clock strikes slower than the German schoolhouse clock with the reverse-painted glass.)

About a month or two ago, the German clock began striking odd hours. While the hands keep perfect time, the amount of strikes it gives on the hour has become erratic. It may strike correctly for 4 or 5 hours, then it will strike one extra the next hour, and 3 or 4 extra on the next hour. I have applied all the normal clock-care instructions our clock man has chastened me with: never move the hands backwards, never overwind it, never wind while striking. I have paused its pendulum to have the time catch up to the strikes, to no avail. I have forwarded the hands to the stricken time -- it will be correct for a few hours, then accelerate on its strikes as described above.

The German clock has to be wound every day (I wind it at 5:30 every morning) and the mantle clock is an 8-day clock, but it is quite old and won't make 8 days. I wind it every 6 days or so, as soon as it begins to lose more than a minute or two every day.

The clock man is a couple of towns over and I am too busy trying to stay caught up on normal daily living with this new job, to take the time to take the clock to him. Amazingly, I have adapted quite well to having a clock that strikes hours ahead of its time.