I had to go to my local hospital here in Kingston upon Thames, (see some views), a very large place and expanding all the time.
I suppose I am becoming like an old vintage wine, I need to be turned, or like an old car, I need attention and some of my parts, oiled and overhauled, with tenderness, love and affection.
I collected a numbered ticket – 78, so that I knew when it would be my turn to be seen, and sat in a waiting area, watching the other patients and members of staff. There seemed to be a representative from nearly every country in the world there, from the Far East, South East Asia, Asia, Africa, Europe, but I did not hear an American accent.
Britain does seem to be less British and more world with every day that passes. As I walk around the shops, I hear so many languages, Polish, Pakistani, Korean, so many I have no idea where they are from. The shop assistants have a foreign accent, waiters and waitresses in the restaurants seem to be there to learn English.
Today a Government report by a House of Lords Committee chaired by Lord Wakeham on recent mass immigration into Britain concluded that there has been little or no positive impact on the living standards of the existing population, and suggests an “explicit and reasoned” limit should be set for net immigration from outside the EU.
It seems that there is a figure of nearly 200,000 net immigrants into Britain each year, that is those seeking to live in Britain, and those leaving, yes, the Brits leave the shores of the UK to become immigrants to other countries. A figure of 200,000 would make a very large town every year, and those are only the “official” figures, it does not take into consideration the illegal immigrants plus their families.
I sat there, watching the second hand of a clock going what seemed to be backwards, time was going so slow, just like standing in a queue in a bank, time just stops. My ticket number 78 was a long time away.
I then began to remember great times, when at a party, when I was a small boy playing, when giving a course. Time just went so fast then. In fact I remember being with a girlfriend, being totally absorbed, then looking at my watch to see that it was not 9pm at night, but mid night.
Where had time gone?
How did time pass so quickly?
It is only our mind that distorts time, makes it go quickly or slowly.
My strongest memory of time going so slow was when I was a student at the Staffordshire College of Commerce in Wednesbury, sitting in a history lesson. The teacher was bad. He did not give me any enthusiasm, he did not light my candle. I sat there watching the second hand of the big clock on the wall facing me, tick, tick, tick away, I can even remember seeing the sight movement of the minute hand. Oh time went so slow waiting for the end of lesson bell.
So sitting there in the waiting area, I got my mind to go back and remember a time where time had been so fast, and that I will keep to myself, and relived that time, seeing everything I saw, hearing everything I heard, and feeling all the good things about that time, all over again. I fully associated myself into that time.
Oops. It is my turn to be seen, ticket 78.
Doesn’t time fly if you are having fun?
Download a desktop timepiece by Maurice Lacroix. Click here. 