The Closest I’ll Get…

Fantasy books have quests. It's fact. Very few of them manage to avoid romanticising the acquisition of a particular shiny object to the point of obsession. Something is lost. Something important. It has to be replaced. In real life things are rarely that dramatic but often mirror the pattern.

So last year I lost a watch. It was the an Animal watch that I bought with the money I got for doing well on my GCSEs. Big, red, shiny and awesome. I wore it for a long time, wearing out strap after, supposedly indestructible, strap. It kept perfect time and only a bad habit I picked up finally stopped me from wearing it (I kept breaking strap pins). Then last year I found it again, got a new battery, took it to London and promptly lost it either in a tube station, my friend's house or a bar. It was a big thing, the watch being the closest thing I had to an heirloom.

So come October my mum asks me what I want for my birthday. She asks if I want a watch. I say yes. We look at a few posh ones. I see some fancy looking titanium thing. But there's something nagging at me. The idea itself is wrong. The watch is too far removed. So I go online, ebay. There's a lot of Animal watches, some of them insanely ugly, others pretty cool and a few more that're exactly what I'm looking for. But there's something I didn't count on. In the decade since I got mine, Animal watches have become something of a collectors item. They don't sell for huge amounts (unless really rare) but they're desireable enough for people to snipe the hell out of me. It takes me two months of bidding to finally win one. It's a sleek black thing, and a lot smarter in real life. It arrives. Good news.

But it's not quite right. The strap is rubber and the notches aren't quite in the right place. The thing is either sliding all over the place or leaving marks all around my wrist. No problem I figure. I'll just go to my local skate shop and pick up a new velcro strap. Nope. Animal watch straps are sold out all over Nottingham. No problem I figure. I'll just go online and order one. Nope. Animal watch straps are sold out everywhere. That is unless I wanted a bright pink and yellow one... Ugh.

I go back to town. I search more sites. I get very random advice from some random guy in the street that takes me to a market stall who just happens to have sold out as well. Then last week. It's 2am or something awful. I go to the last site on the list. I find a strap. It's black. It's got the soft padding. It's on clearance and only costs £5 including £3 postage! It arrives. Job done?

Hah! To get the rubber strap off without destroying it involves a bit of (even more) bent wire, the snapping of two needle files and finally the modification of a safety pin ornament from Turkey. But it worked! The watch was assembled! More important, it was comfy!

Kind of a sad little story to anyone except me. But I don't care. Finally putting that watch together was satisfying. Wants, obstacles, complications, needs. That's the lot.