A [Little] Big Ben
I started a work from home job a couple months ago. Finally, I was all trained and felt comfortable enough to travel with my work. In my opinion it is one of the biggest perks of working from home. While it’s no fun to be on “vacation” and work, at least you get a change of scenery while visiting loved ones; all without taking PTO.
Big Ben - He chimes!
I went to visit my mom and dad for a week. They’ve had this clock for 40 years. I remember when they bought it. We had just moved into a new house. We were at Service Merchandise and they bought the clock there. I don’t know who picked it out; I know my dad loves clocks but I feel like this was something my mom wanted.
We named the clock Big Ben.
In the new house we had a mantle above a fireplace and that’s where Big Ben sat.
I have never so much as laid a finger on the clock. From day one, I was told never to touch it. I’m very clumsy and nothing about that has changed in forty years. I was about to adjust it for the photo op and then with warning bells in my head, I decided I’d just crop the photo.
“In 1851, the chime was adopted by Edmund Beckett Denison (an amateur horologist, and graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, who was familiar with the Great St Mary’s chime) for the new clock at the Palace of Westminster, where the bell Big Ben hangs. From there its fame spread.”
On my first day working from home home, while sitting at the dining room table, I first noticed that Big Ben was wrong. I’m on the East Coast but my job is on Central time. I take my lunch at 1:00 EST. So when I heard Big Ben chime just one bong for 1:00, I got excited. I looked at the Central time on my computer and realized I had another hour.
Mom fixed Big Ben after I brought that to her attention.
I enjoyed Big Ben each afternoon as it counted down my day; not so much in the morning. By midweek I knew I’d miss the chimes altogether once I was back at home in my own workspace. I wondered if there was an app for that and if so, one without a subscription.
Found one!
All apps seem to have subscriptions these days, so I was happy to find a Big Ben chime for my phone without one. There are three versions of the app. Lite is free and Standard is .99 cents. I bought the full version for $3.99. I don’t know what the difference is between them all. I just know with the full version, I’m getting everything I wanted. The Westminster chimes, as well as a time range of when I want to hear them. Of course I chose from 12:30 to 5:00. It’s not fun to be reminded what time it is when you’re just getting started with work.
The app is slightly ahead. It’s started chiming 30 seconds or so before mom and dad’s clock, which is no biggie unless you have one chime overlapping with another. So I ended up turning mine off.
So I’m back at home and looking forward to some nostalgia to brighten each workday from 12:30 to five.
I learned from the reviews to change your settings this way:
Settings > Westminster Chimes > Notifications, and turn off “Show in Lock Screen” and “Banners”. Leave “Notification Center” and “Sounds” turned on.
It’s been a year since the developer has updated the app, but I’m current with iOS17 and it’s working just fine.
If I ever have to pay for a subscription to hear the chime, I’ll just buy a little Big Ben for my home office.
