The British Perspective of Time

There's a stereotype that British people like to be punctual and that we have certain times for everything. This stereotype is absolutely correct. Think about it, we all have breakfast at the same time of the day, we eat lunch at a certain time and we all say "is it tea time yet?" as if there is some unspoken rule about when it is acceptable to eat our dinner. We have a time for everything. We have to allocate ourselves time to do things. In my timetable I have marked in my 'work frees' and 'relaxation frees'. I even split up the hour into which subjects I will be studying for that hour. Some might call this good study habits but most people just call this being overly pedantic. But there's definitely a British trend here. We like to know when, where and how everything will be done otherwise we get into a right fuss and start complaining about the weather, as per usual. Personally, I think we've got it all wrong.

Here's a story for you. Once I was visiting a South African Township and we went into a small but very pleasant restaurant, hosted by a bright and funny old lady. She starting talking about the very same issue that I'm talking about. She was saying how the English are very funny to watch as they have a time schedule for everything. We schedule when to meet to the exact minute, we plan meals, we have daily planners to cram even the most mundane things into our already busy schedules. She said that we needed to live in the moment. The thing that really stuck with me was that she ate when she wanted to. If she was hungry, she made dinner. If she wanted to meet friends, she would go looking for them. She was a free agent. She did what she wanted when she wanted to do it and I decided then and there that that is how I want to live my life. Now, obviously, there are constraints that both her and I face. We both have jobs, I have school, she had a family. We do still have a duty to look after ourselves and those around us which means that we can't be spontaneous all of the time and we do have to follow certain guidelines in order to actually make a decent living. But this shouldn't stop us from taking a different perspective on living. There are certainly small things that a lot of Brits forget to appreciate. Anyone who has been to London or who lives in our bustling capital will know that everyone is in a rush. Everyone is busy chasing deadlines and trying to get to their next meeting on time. But London is such a beautiful city and sometimes people forget that there are shows on every night, there are street performers, there are amazing and quirky restaurants to try out. Sometimes even just appreciating the view is enough.

So I'm taking the advice of the slightly quirky and fun South African lady who owned that small restaurant: don't be constrained by deadlines and social constructs and just enjoy each little thing as it comes.