What catches your eye as you travel? Sometimes it's stunning architecture, sometimes magnificent mountains or crystal lakes, or interesting activities and costumes.
Sometimes, I find, I don't even realize until later what's most caught my attention on a particular trip. Then, I start sorting through my pictures, and find I have an inordinate number of bakeries, or of birds, or, in this case, interesting public clocks.
Here's a gallery of some of my favorites from this spring's travels in England, starting with one above on a bank near Covent Garden in London.
Some, like this one, play with traditional ideas of what a clock shows. Bracken House is the once and future home of the Financial Times; let's hope their financial predictions don't come from the astrological signs.
Another fun clock, this one above a large pub on The Strand, in London. Below, a Victorian example on a building under renovation in Liverpool.
Despite its appearance, this next one's not on a church: It's part of one of London's most wonderful red-brick piles, St Pancras Station. The next one after is inside the station, at the head of the wonderful glass train shed.
A brief sidestep. This is not a clock, but it's often mistaken for one from a distance. There was a ban on advertising signs along the Thames when it was built, but, the company said, that's not a sign. Those are decorative stained-glass windows.
And then we come to a category of clocks I hadn't known existed. Apparently, Queen Victoria's 1887 Gold and 1897 Diamond Jubilee years were banner years for clockmakers. We found Jubilee clocks in Chester, in Weymouth and in London, and I'm sure there are many more.
In fact, Wikipedia lists 9 in England, and two of these aren't on the list; there are at least two in Malaysia and one in New Zealand. Our first was this one in Chester, mounted on the ancient walls that circle the city center.
When we moved on to Weymouth, we found one that's one of the two key landmarks of the beachfront, along with a statue of King George III.
Our last Jubilee clock stands near Victoria Station in London. It's surrounded by traffic and rushing commuters and construction. It took a while for the space to be clear enough for a picture.
And here are the last two: a very public one on the tower of Manchester's Town Hall and a private one in one of England's important historic homes, Speke Hall in Liverpool.
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