With some gusto Basildon Council announced that the Clock had been returned to the town. It was erected where The Woodsman stood – and whilst I can accept that the clock is a piece of artistic engineering, I find it hard to think of it as public art. It certainly wasn’t created for the space in which it now stands.

But that is by-the-by.

The Council has determined this is the structure that will preside over St Martin’s Square. (Actually, I am a little confused as to whether or not we still call it St Martin’s Square, since it appears to have been arbitrarily renamed Compass Square. Clearly, whichever fourteen-year old PR whizz thought that up hadn’t looked closely enough at the stone-set round in front of the Towngate. It is actually a sundial.)

It had been taken down from its original location because it was not working and was repaired by the Cumbria Clock Company.

However, you might be a little confused if you take a look at this picture, snapped earlier today.

I am not sure how most people define a working clock, but I am pretty sure that it has hands… Still, I guess I might have been expecting too much.