Wednesday 20 January 2016

Punctual People

I have a severe affliction of OneMoreJob-itis, GreenLight-itis (or Travel Utopia) and AllThoseFiveMinuteJobsAddUp-itis.

Or dare I say, I had?

Today I had a hospital appointment booked for 9am. Anybody who knows where I live and the location of my local hospital six point eight miles away, will know that if you cross your fingers, have a good wind behind you, an impressive grasp of alternative car parking spaces and leave home at around 4am, you'd be unlucky not to make it in time.

I decided to go on the train.

I toyed with the idea of catching the 8.22 as per my normal way of being. The train would arrive at 8.36 (no, punctual people, of course it wouldn’t be delayed), the one point one mile walk would take twenty minutes, thus leaving me with a couple of minutes to check in at the well-staffed, all systems working like clock-work desk for Out Patients.

But today I decided that I would step away from living on the edge and just for once, I'd take the earlier train. Even with delays, I'd still have time to walk over the slightly further but very much drier path rather than run/walk in heels (hey! I'm five foot two on my tip-toes, people tread on me if I don’t wear heels), with my cross over bag tossing like a caber on my back, over the shorter (as the crow flies) muddy fields.

Besides, if I got there early I could have a coffee and do some writing. And that, dear readers, is how I come to be writing this blog post now.

I confess I did run onto the train from the station for my out-bound journey, which is only three minutes from my house, (well actually, it's forty seconds, providing the road you're trying to cross has been blocked off or it's FA Cup Saturday) but once the train had arrived perfectly on time and I'd begun my walk, I experienced something new.

I walked fairly briskly, I'm not sure 'sedate' is really in my psyche, but without even a whisper of needing to do my run/walk. I stepped without adrenalin pumping into my feet or angst puncturing my every thought that I might be late. I walked over crunching frost and noticed the blue of the sky. I enjoyed the cold air on my face with my hands nestled deep in my favourite gloves, without concern I might be sweating.

I arrived at the hospital half an hour in advance of my appointment, bought myself a take-out coffee - no queue – decided I'd have time to get my blood test done – no queue – which I'd originally planned to do after the 9am appointment and probably would have forgotten until I was on that return train home. I checked-in, took my seat and my pen and paper from my bag and am now waiting for my appointment. Let me say that again: I am waiting for my appointment.

Punctual people, I get it now.



12 comments:

  1. Absolutely brilliant! Hilareous! What can i say! Sometimes it works sometimes it don't!

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    1. Glad you liked it, Antonia. What do you think, can I repeat it...??

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  2. My mum reckons being early is a very inefficient way to live. She tells me all the things she can do in all those 30 minutes that I'm early for appointments. On the other hand, there's no greater pleasure than taking a little bit of down-time to do what you want - sheer luxury! Hope the waiting wasn't too painful! Tamsin x

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    1. I doubt it's inefficient really - not arriving late means you don't get home late so you can do all the jobs you were trying to cram in before you left :) And it's certainly less stressful being punctual. I do actually try very hard not to be late and it's generally only by a few minutes (because I've chanced it on the travel time) but I hate myself so much when I am so really, I need to change... Kudos to you for being punctual, Tamsin!

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  3. I'm always early because I always over-estimate the time things will take. Yes, that walk took me 7 minutes yesterday, but I'll allow 20, just in case. My whole life is lived like that - I spend a lot of time waiting!

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    1. Hehe! You are my alter-ego!! And that is an expression that I don't think is every going to cross my lips: I spend a lot of time waiting. I'm sure you have a notepad with you though, so it's not time wasted...?

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  4. I'm a serial punctualist.... Lateness or even the thought of it gives me an anxiety attack necessitating the use of a paper bag for respiratory purposes.
    Living in a country where time is a guideline rather than an absolute...... Well I might put that in my book... One day...

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  5. Hehe! You've got it bad, Hazel! But a country where time is a guideline rather than an absolute? Sounds like my kind of place...

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  6. Earlier this month I arrived at the doctors at least half an hour early, but there was a delay so ended up waiting for over an hour!!

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  7. Oooh, that is a bit excessive. I suspect you had a book with you though, Sonya??

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  8. Afraid I am in the early school, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't (had an appointment today, arrived early and was seen early!). Of course that doesn't always happen but somehow just can't bear to be late or even think about the possibility that I might be so even having to wait sometimes is worth it for me. The world really is divided into earlyists and latest though isn't it.

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    1. It certainly is a game of two halves. But the difference is that I've never actually met anyone who likes to be late, but many who like to be early. It's just an unrealistic optimism of what can be achieved in a day, I reckon, not to mention an inability to just STOP and GO!!! That@s my theory anyway! Thanks for reading :)

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