Saving time
In common with many people, I save time. Waiting for the kettle to boil for morning tea (not mine, I don’t drink tea or coffee) I save time by stacking or emptying the dishwasher, filling or emptying the washing machine, cleaning the kitchen sink. It’s satisfying to know that I haven’t wasted time.
What happens to the time I save? Is it stored somewhere safe to be used on another day when time is running short? Why can I never access this precious stash of time when I really need to, when visitors are coming and I’m never going to be ready in time, no matter how long I have allowed myself to complete various tasks?
Where does the time go? Perhaps it sneaks off to someone else’s life. You know the sort of person I mean – the one who’s always prepared for every eventuality, who sometimes complains of having time on his or her hands or boasts, rather unkindly, of having all the time in the world.
I save so much time that I should have plenty left over, yet there are never enough hours in the day.
Then again, a verse by W.H. Davies (1871-1940) comes to mind and gives me pause.
Leisure
What
is this life, if full of care,
We
have no time to stand and stare.
No
time to stand beneath the boughs
And
stare as long as sheep or cows.
No
time to see, when woods we pass,
Where
squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No
time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams
full of stars, like skies at night.
No
time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And
watch her feet, how they can dance.
No
time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich
that smile her eyes began.
A
poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
