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Written by Cheryl Norton
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Friday, 18 December 2009 |
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We seem to spend most of our lives waiting, writes Cheryl Norton-Barry. There are the big waits, such as waiting for a holiday, waiting for the right partner, waiting for the right job. Then there are the daily, mundane waits, such as waiting for the train, waiting for the queue at the cash machine to disperse, waiting for the weekend.
I'm sitting here right now waiting for the other half to stop drilling in the loft for some much needed peace and quiet.
Another favourite is waiting for the internet connection to pick-up again so I can get back online.
I wonder if, in today's society, we have more aspects of our life that
are consumed by waiting, or if we just notice it more when we are
forced to stop? In this era of instant communication, the likes of
text, e-mail and the web in general, mean we don't have to wait to find
things out, or wait to speak to people. We are used to being instantly
gratified, so we get upset whenever there's a gap between anticipating
our desires and achieving them, whether that be waiting for a meal,
waiting for a promotion, or waiting for a baby to arrive.
I think because of this, we're all becoming a lot less patient. It's
something I can completely identify with. A lack of patience is one of
my most particular flaws. Not so much with people (although yes, that
can occur quite frequently too), but noticeably with time. Just last
week, I had to wait half an hour at the doctors, twenty minutes for a
train, forty minutes to wait for a table in a restaurant, fifteen minutes in a queue at Sainsburys and ten minutes outside the ladies
toilets. And these are just the moments of waiting that I can remember
- no doubt there's been many more.
Thing is, I don't deal with these waiting spells very easily and am
known to tut and sigh and roll my eyes a lot. However, I truly shocked
myself the other day with my total lack of impatience. I was trying to
walk down the stairs in a shop in Chelmsford and a group of people were
in front of me chatting and taking their time, meaning I had to stop
and wait and dawdle my way down behind them. So I tutted and sighed and
looked pointedly at my watch, due to the fact that their cheery
chattiness was eating into my valuable shopping time. But it wasn't
until we got to the bottom of the stairs (which seemed like some five
minutes later) that I realised the group in front of me did not all
know each other. One older woman had a walking stick and had obviously
had a problem negotiating the stairs whilst the others were all rallying round to help her.
Well, I felt bad for quite some time afterwards. It's a moment such as
this that makes you think just how intolerant you can really be.
Whatever's the problem with waiting for a few extra moments compared to not being able to walk properly?
Like many others, the reason behind my levels of impatience is due to
the fact that my free time is obviously precious to me. My week is
dominated by work and I spend just over two hours every single day
getting both to and from there. I know many of you are in exactly the
same boat and ones intolerance seems to rise when waiting occurs. I
always find myself getting extremely irritated about what I could be
doing if I wasn't waiting for a train to leave on time or a loo queue
to decrease. I wonder if people who are retired, or who work part time,
are more tolerant - I'd really like to know?
I read in a newspaper recently how one man, Paul McCrudden, recorded
his queuing time and invoiced more than 50 companies for it. His reason
for doing so was because, he said, "My time on this planet is limited.
It frustrates me every day of my life that I have to waste time
queueing." Ridiculous? Maybe. But he received several payments
including a cheque for £62 from the Pret A Manger cafe founder.
Whilst I'd love to charge National Express for the amount of time I've
been kept waiting for trains over the years, particularly considering
the obscene amount of money I pay for a yearly ticket, I'm realistic
enough to realise that waiting is an inevitable part of life. As we
enter 2010 and thoughts turn to New Year’s resolutions, I'm going to
make an effort to practice some patience. I will try not to see the
waiting spells as wasted time, but look at it as a chance to break from
the busyness of life. Yeah, right. Failing that, I'll try and keep my
tutting, sighing and eye rolling just to myself.
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