The Round Clock

The test bench of an electronics factory in Austria in the morning under fluorescent tubes, a row of identical video cassette recorders, the nearest fifty-six centimetres wide, a dark wood- grain base, above it a silver aluminium housing with a black top, between two ventilation grilles a black flap over the cassette well with a small amber window, small green and red keys, at the front two silver knurled wheels, a small meter, six blank silver piano keys and a round clock with a plain white face behind glass, hands in pale blue sleeves lowering a black cassette into the open well, a monitor beside it glowing with colour bars.