The Time it is A-Changin’

I was once told that in order to live a long life, you should marry someone you hate. Because as we all know, time goes slower when you’re miserable.

It’s an interesting proposition, one I don’t think I’ll be trying, but it’s an interesting thing to think about it. Time is different to all of us, and is described in various ways. “Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff” is a personal favourite, and it’s true that I don’t think time is a linear thing, and that in reality it’s something I shall never understand. And perhaps I’m not meant to. But time fascinates me because of that. It’s something that you aren’t always aware of, but we assume is always there. But who’s to say that it is? Again, thinking along a linear timeline, it could be argued that everything is set out- though that’s something I don’t particularly want to get into (though I’m sure some would)- and will happen along a particular scale; like a ruler, for instance. Even if you subscribe to a less pre-determined mindset, it could be said that things happen, throughout time, strictly at certain points.

But, it would seem to me that time is less linear, and shouldn’t be seen as such. Without straying too far into time travel territory, a frightening and intimidating place whichever side of the fiction/non-fiction line you land on, time itself does affect us. Obviously. Thinking again more linearly, it interests me how we feel as our lives progress and develop, and the influence of time. Time is subjective. This is my opinion, and may not be true, but I shall assume that it is; “Put your hands on a hot pan and a second can seem like an hour. Put your hands on a hot woman, and an hour can seem like a second.” Albert Einstein said that. Only in German. And he probably didn’t. But the fact remains that time does not happen- or rather, act- the same in different situations. Most would say the more you aware of something, the more apparent it becomes, i.e. when we are bored, we are more aware of the time left until we are no longer bored. This is the most logical explanation in my opinion, but what if that is all it is?

Too often people explain various phenomena with the  reasoning that “Science/Medicine/Religion/Parents haven’t provided a good enough explanation, therefore mine must be correct.” This is utter bollocks of course, and is akin to looking at a foreign menu and saying “Well yes it looks like chicken, but it’s not in English, so it must be a carrot.” This doesn’t work, and simply because other’s explanations don’t quite fit it doesn’t mean yours do. But I digress, and I’ve forgotten my point. I assume I was making my way back to my original point, which is this: what if time does change? What if time does slow down for us? I’m not suggesting of course that my being bored on this First Transpenine Express Train is causing severe delays for all trains, but perhaps my time is being lengthened- is it so preposterous that perhaps our lives are governed by their own time? I’m rambling I know- but it is an interesting thought. However, I can never back it up, not being scientifically enabled, and yes it is just a thought. I will probably never know the answer.

To be quite honest though, if this train takes any longer, I won’t care.