A Public Clock with Nobody in Charge

The clock above the small public square had been wrong for months. Residents joked about it, and a local civic group decided to report the problem. Nina assumed that the council owned it because it stood above a public space. Her first message received a polite but unhelpful reply.

The clock belonged to the building, while the square belonged to the council. The building manager said that an old agreement gave a local association responsibility for the clock. Unfortunately, the association's contact details were out of date. Nina began to feel as though the hands might move before her request did.

Instead of sending the same complaint again, she collected the replies and asked the building manager to help trace the agreement. A former association member provided a copy and put her in touch with the current committee. They had inherited the responsibility without realising that a clock was included among the listed items.

The committee arranged an inspection and later approved the repair. Nina did not describe this as a fast success in the civic group's newsletter. She explained who was responsible and recorded the correct contact for future reports. When the clock finally showed the right time, the group took a photograph. Beneath it, they printed the date, because a picture alone could not prove much.