
Chronomentrophobia is the fear of clocks and watches. My son might have it. So what’s it all about?
So we’re staying at my in-laws and my two-year-old is lying in his cot stubbornly refusing to go to sleep. Presently, I’m summoned to his room (again) by a frenzy of yells. “Daaad!” he says pointing to the mantelpiece. “That clock is scary!” “How so? I enquire. “IT’S GOT GOOGLY EYES!!!” Peering at the table clock, I grudgingly admit the two winding holes for the chimes and pendulum embedded in the stepped dial do look a bit like eyes. So I cover the clock’s fearsome visage with a blanket. All seems to be well and, after the customary round of…