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Broken Rotary watch
I bought this watch on a flight to Padua.
I had often sat in flights and wondered exactly what kind of people were those who bought things from the in-flight catalogues that are tucked into the backs of seats. I had thought, they must be people who cannot go to shops or dislike shopping. Or people whose lives were so haphazard that only when secured by seatbelts in a flight could they resolve to purchase such basic things as pens or wristwatches.
But, in a gleeful Damascene moment, I caught the attention of the flight attendant and, in minutes, the watch was mine.
Dear reader, had I become one of those people .I had needed a watch but yes, I have often felt a sense of grave oppression in shops, especially indeed jewelers. Because in the jewelers a perfumed manager will present an array of watches on a velvet tray . The stillness in the room will be quite oppressive. And he will be watching you very closely as you inquire about the prices which, though enormous, will be written on the tiniest tags.
You are crippled as the assistant (who isn't an assistant at all but a highly trained psychological bully) makes you feel ashamed, applying all sorts of ruses so you spend a huge amount on something which you don't need or even want. And if you maintain your good sense and chose to get the cheapo thing you can afford you wither on hearing the condescension in the sellers voice, "very good sir".
For a while I didn't use a watch because mobile phone had the time. But then I started to resent the phone, seeing it more as a tyrant than a liberator. I disliked how I continually felt the need to check it and the inane social networks I belong to. I stopped carrying the phone when I went out.
But I can't do anything without measuring myself against time. It's how I am constructed. I needed the watch.
The thing I like about the watch was how the winder had embedded in its crown a tiny dark blue stone. I also liked how smooth and flat the glass was. It felt reassuring to stroke it.
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