Time.
Strange thing, isn't it?
It occurred to me about half an hour ago that ten years ago, exactly ten years ago, I was in Peru awaiting the New Year. Things hadn't been going very well recently. I'd somehow become a bit of a social pariah in the group. I'd split from the group between Christmas and the new year to spend some time on my own and think about whether or not I wanted to continue travelling with them at all. But since then they had looked up a bit. I'd taken the train up to Machu Picchu and rejoined the group and we'd travelled back via Ollantaytambo and Pisac. There had been a kind of uneasy truce going on for the day that it had taken to get back to Cuzco where we were celebrating the millennium.
Being so far west we had a lot of time while the New Year sprinted round the world to reach us. It had started its journey towards us in the Chatham Islands before I was even up. And as the day progressed I drank to New Zealand and Australia over breakfast and to Peru at Midnight in the bar of the Cross Keys pub and to all points in between in a variety of establishments. People were in party mood - some who hadn't spoken a word to me in weeks were relatively friendly.
I watched its progress on television in this assortment of bars courtesy of CNN whose coverage of the event verged on the surreal. It included live reports from empty airports, a discussion with a pilot in the air on the impact of the Millennium bug and an interview with the Dalai Lama that seemed to go on for hours.
Apart from these unexpected gems there was more commonplace fare - endless shots of the Millennium Dome, archive film of great New Years past, overviews of the outgoing century, fireworks from around the World. Sydney and Paris managed especially impressive displays. The London ones, as covered by CNN, failed to impress at all.
But that comment about time was as true then as it is now, as it always was and always will be. The day had arrived rather quicker than I could ever have expected. It hardly felt like days since I left England and it was difficult to believe that seven months had gone. The greater part of my journey was behind me. The USA and Canada were in the distant past. The whole of Central America and Columbia and Ecuador had been reduced to a series of photographs, diary entries and memories.Peru would soon follow as I continued South into Bolivia.
From the Cross Keys the view of the Plaza through the wide balcony windows seemed as unreal, or perhaps surreal, as the scenes on television. It was filled once more with people letting off fireworks and loud explosions. The brightly illuminated Cathedral opposite vied with the lights of the Christmas tree for our attention.
As Midnight approached the atmosphere grew louder and livelier and when it struck the bar was flooded with sprays of champagne and Cusqeña beer and filled with the noise and smoke of firecrackers. Everyone was hugging and kissing and backslapping and of course toasting the day. For a brief moment I felt part of the group again. New Year can do that for you. Then it raced away from us to finish its journey around the world. CNN moved coverage to Los Angeles and Alaska and we carried on with the party.
That's the story of then. What about now? Now it isn't seven months that have passed, it's ten years. It feels more like ten minutes. I cannot believe that it has been so long. I cannot believe that I am so much older than I was then. And I cannot believe how little has changed in my life.
And therein lies the reason that time is such a tricky, slippery little bugger.
I travelled on for another year or so after south America and then came back and became a teacher and have been ever since. The years have followed a pattern. The weeks within the years have followed a pattern. The days within the weeks have followed a pattern. And the days, weeks and years have become more or less indistinguishable from each other and that's what throws your sense of time.
To use a phrase I have used many, many times before, I am seized by a curious sense of time not passing.
And now, I shall wish you all a Happy New Year, and if that doesn't work you can try having the same happy old year all over again.
Strange thing, isn't it?
It occurred to me about half an hour ago that ten years ago, exactly ten years ago, I was in Peru awaiting the New Year. Things hadn't been going very well recently. I'd somehow become a bit of a social pariah in the group. I'd split from the group between Christmas and the new year to spend some time on my own and think about whether or not I wanted to continue travelling with them at all. But since then they had looked up a bit. I'd taken the train up to Machu Picchu and rejoined the group and we'd travelled back via Ollantaytambo and Pisac. There had been a kind of uneasy truce going on for the day that it had taken to get back to Cuzco where we were celebrating the millennium.
Being so far west we had a lot of time while the New Year sprinted round the world to reach us. It had started its journey towards us in the Chatham Islands before I was even up. And as the day progressed I drank to New Zealand and Australia over breakfast and to Peru at Midnight in the bar of the Cross Keys pub and to all points in between in a variety of establishments. People were in party mood - some who hadn't spoken a word to me in weeks were relatively friendly.
I watched its progress on television in this assortment of bars courtesy of CNN whose coverage of the event verged on the surreal. It included live reports from empty airports, a discussion with a pilot in the air on the impact of the Millennium bug and an interview with the Dalai Lama that seemed to go on for hours.
Apart from these unexpected gems there was more commonplace fare - endless shots of the Millennium Dome, archive film of great New Years past, overviews of the outgoing century, fireworks from around the World. Sydney and Paris managed especially impressive displays. The London ones, as covered by CNN, failed to impress at all.
But that comment about time was as true then as it is now, as it always was and always will be. The day had arrived rather quicker than I could ever have expected. It hardly felt like days since I left England and it was difficult to believe that seven months had gone. The greater part of my journey was behind me. The USA and Canada were in the distant past. The whole of Central America and Columbia and Ecuador had been reduced to a series of photographs, diary entries and memories.Peru would soon follow as I continued South into Bolivia.
From the Cross Keys the view of the Plaza through the wide balcony windows seemed as unreal, or perhaps surreal, as the scenes on television. It was filled once more with people letting off fireworks and loud explosions. The brightly illuminated Cathedral opposite vied with the lights of the Christmas tree for our attention.
As Midnight approached the atmosphere grew louder and livelier and when it struck the bar was flooded with sprays of champagne and Cusqeña beer and filled with the noise and smoke of firecrackers. Everyone was hugging and kissing and backslapping and of course toasting the day. For a brief moment I felt part of the group again. New Year can do that for you. Then it raced away from us to finish its journey around the world. CNN moved coverage to Los Angeles and Alaska and we carried on with the party.
That's the story of then. What about now? Now it isn't seven months that have passed, it's ten years. It feels more like ten minutes. I cannot believe that it has been so long. I cannot believe that I am so much older than I was then. And I cannot believe how little has changed in my life.
And therein lies the reason that time is such a tricky, slippery little bugger.
I travelled on for another year or so after south America and then came back and became a teacher and have been ever since. The years have followed a pattern. The weeks within the years have followed a pattern. The days within the weeks have followed a pattern. And the days, weeks and years have become more or less indistinguishable from each other and that's what throws your sense of time.
To use a phrase I have used many, many times before, I am seized by a curious sense of time not passing.
And now, I shall wish you all a Happy New Year, and if that doesn't work you can try having the same happy old year all over again.
1 comment:
Ten years ago I was sitting inside a forest, with a blanket, warm tea and a bottle of champagne, a back than good friend and a nearly silence.
May the new year provide you with all you can wish for.
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