Mal's Memories (From Penarth Times)

Mal's Memories

DO YOU remember when time went by, oh so much slower?

When you were a child a day seemed like a week, a week like a month, and when you broke up for the school summer holidays, an eternity of play-time stretched ahead.

As you become older time speeds up until the days, weeks, months and years rush by at express pace. No sooner has Christmas come and gone, than those other milestones of the year are upon us - Easter, Summer holidays, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night and then it is time to get out the Christmas decorations again.

There is a theory to explain this speeding up of time with our age. When you are five years old a week is a relatively large proportion of your life, but when you are 50 years old, it is a much smaller proportion and seems to pass quicker.

The pace of life is certainly a lot more hectic than it was even 20-30 years ago. When you are working and raising a family there are never enough hours in the day.

There is another theory that says when you retire from full-time work, and have more time on your hands, it can start to drag. But all the retired people I know tell me that they have never been so busy, and they don't know how they ever managed to fit work in to their lifestyle at all. So much for theories.

However you look at it, one thing is certain. Time is one of the most precious things we have. As the poet W H Davies put it: "What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?"

Enjoy your Christmas holiday!