I hate waiting. I feel as if, completely against my will, my life is being allowed to slip through my fingers and precious time is being wasted, just waiting around, for someone, or something.

I find the empty time, the unused minutes, frustrating, as if I’m being robbed of something valuable that I will never get back.

If there’s something to read, something to listen to, or something to watch, then the waiting is not quite such torture – but the nightmare scenario is being stuck at a bus station in the dark, with nothing to do but be there, wait there, while the precious seconds of my life slip relentlessly into the abyss.

So, best not keep me waiting. . . please!

Punctuality is the politeness of kings and it really is a demonstration of respect when we make the effort to be on time, rather than bring the person who has to wait for us to the very edges of fury, as they pace up and down, helpless to change the situation, yet too polite just to walk away. Instead they wait, struggle to seem pleased to see us when we eventually arrive, and everyone tries to get the schedule back on track.

That said, sometimes things happen that no one intends, and waiting becomes the order of the day. I’m pretty certain the bus driver doesn’t deliberately arrange things so that the bus is late, any more than the customer agent at the bank wants a queue of annoyed customers to be stuck behind the person with the complex banking problem that needs sorting – or the nurse in the busy A&E wants to leave us in the corridor with our suspected broken foot.

Sometimes we just have to suck it up and drive on, and assume, understand, accept that the world’s timetable is not exactly lined up with ours, and there is going to be some slack time, best filled with. . . well, who knows what?

The devout might say best filled with prayer, others with breathing exercises, others with just looking at the world around us with new eyes, fresh vision – being in the moment for that is the moment we are in – and humphing and grumphing isn’t going to change that.

That said... be on time, goanie?