After the river excursion, we wandered around Cambridge, looking at the front of the buildings we had viewed from the back earlier on. There is always some sort of entertainment in Cambridge, but I've no idea what this was about. A lot of drumming. [Probably the annual STRAWBERRY FAIR].
	The CORPUS CLOCK at CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, Cambridge. [THE LINK TO THE CLOCK INCLUDES A VIDEO.] The Corpus Clock is a large sculptural clock at street level on the outside of the Taylor Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, at the junction of Bene't Street & Trumpington Street, looking out over King's Parade. It was conceived of & funded by John C. Taylor, an old member of the college. It was officially unveiled to the public on 19 September 2008 by Cambridge physicist STEPHEN HAWKING. The clock was one of Time Magazine's Best Inventions of 2008.
The clock's face is a rippling 24-carat gold-plated stainless steel disc, about 1.5 metres (4.9') in diameter. It has no hands or numbers, but displays the time by opening individual slits in the clock face backlit with blue LEDs; these slits are arranged in three concentric rings displaying hours, minutes & seconds. The dominating visual feature of the clock is a grim-looking metal sculpture of an insect similar to a grasshopper or locust. The sculpture is actually the clock's ESCAPEMENT. Taylor calls this beast the Chronophage (literally "time eater", from the Greek [chronos] time, and [phago] I eat). It moves its mouth, appearing to "eat up" the seconds as they pass, and occasionally it "blinks" in seeming satisfaction. The creature's constant motion produces an eerie grinding sound that suits its task. The hour is tolled by the sound of a chain clanking into a small wooden coffin hidden in the back of the clock.
The clock is entirely accurate only once every five minutes. The rest of the time, the pendulum may seem to catch or stop, and the lights may lag or then, race to get ahead. According to Taylor, this erratic motion reflects life's "irregularity". Conceived as a work of public art, the Chronophage reminds viewers in a dramatic way of the inevitable passing of time. Taylor deliberately designed it to be "terrifying": "Basically I view time as not on your side. He'll eat up every minute of your life, and as soon as one has gone, he's salivating for the next." Others have described it as "hypnotically beautiful and deeply disturbing".

LUNCH! HERE