Could be called a joke, I suppose, but this one happened. Just a bit of Ashwell folk talk, really.
We have a session in The Rose & Crown, first Monday of the month. I usually go round about 8:30 and have a drink. When there's enough of us, or when we feel like it, we settle down and start.
A couple of months ago, a posh bloke, not a local, turned up in the bar some time after 8. When I turned up at 8:30, he'd struck up a conversation with one of the old blokes in the bar.
"I thought there was some sort of music here at half past eight." "Well, so there is, but t'aint arf parst yit. "My watch says half past, and it's one of those satellite things." "Ar, but we goo by Ashwell time." "What's that then?" "Well, goo outside an' look up a the ole church clock. Tell me if that says arf parst." (returning from outside, now looking rather worried) "No, it doesn't!" (... here I have to explain that we'd had a power cut around half past five. The church clock's electrically wound and stops when there's a power cut. In fact, it's set by the atomic clock at Rugby, but the mechanism is that it waits till the time comes round again, then continues ...) After a pause, the posh bloke says: "Er, how can I tell when it's half past eight, then?" (triumphally ... he'd been waiting for this) "Ar, well. You see that notice there?" "Yes, it says 'Folk Music at 8:30'. Oh! ..."