Good Idea, Chap: Living La Vida Loca

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Contrary to what you might have expected, today’s article will have very little to do with Ricky Martin or, indeed, with anything as flamboyant and piquant as his songs or live performances.

Rather, it is but a mere reflection of my thoughts on the hectic lifestyle that some Londoners have adopted.

Prior to going into any further detail, I must say that I did have an amazing day in London  today in that I met up with some incredible people and managed to catch up with some old friends.

What puzzled me (again), however, was the very fact that nothing seemed to stop; everything and everyone was constantly moving.

What’s more, no- one seemed to want to stop.

In fact, people seemed quite happy about the fact that they were constantly moving.

To a bystander, it would initially seem that the said people were under considerable stress as they often acted and moved in a way which suggested that they did so solely because they were compelled by an outside force which was far greater than them.

I was once told by a dear friend of mine that the above force had a name: ‘tube delays, line closures and diversions’ they were called.

I didn’t quite get what he meant at the time. Thankfully, after I had been starting at him rather blankly for a minute or so, he decided to elaborate on the matter and said that everyone was in a constant rush because they wanted to get to the tube on time.

But surely, I thought, that made no sense whatsoever as there was one every three minutes or so. Consequently, even if you missed your ‘own’, you could easily wait for five minutes and get on the next one.

Theoretically, my friend said, I was quite right. In reality, though, he said, most people in London were well aware that time was money and had, thus, calculated how long it would take them to get from home to work, to the second.

To be honest, I quite liked the idea; the very fact that people around me knew that time was money made me feel a bit more secure and, for some reason, at ease.

For one, that meant (at least logically) that, if I was to live and work in London, I would not have to tolerate people’s lateness (simply because they wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, be late in the first place).

In the end of the day, what seemed like a rather hectic and destructive lifestyle at first, turned out to be quite logical and practical.

Under the circumstances, it was a good idea and one that I could get used to.

All in due course, I guess.