the watch of time

It’s time for spring to sap forth inspired by more enlivened clichés (with the original in italics):

• Only pens and erasers are in there, so what you’ll find is not the sharpest pencil in the box
• Since the only spray paint to miss its target was on the fly we can consider this job a success
• Nothing up my sleeve will protect me from the impact of your verbal tirades
• We need to agree it’s now or never bring it up again
• Just because her nickname is ‘desire’ doesn’t mean we have to look after every object of desire
• If you don’t like what the kilt maker comes up with, then your choices remaining will be a little off kilter
• The old school was O.K. for its time, but I wouldn’t want to go back there again
• The game of bowling becomes much more challenging if rolling a strike is dependent on pins and needles
• Now that the dust has settled we know that since nothing ventured, nothing gained any advantage
• Be on the ball if you want a well-rounded balancing act to end in a flourish