Thursday 29 October 2009

Busy Busy

Brit usefully divides the human race - or rather the working portion of it - into Tortoises and Hares. There are, of course, two kinds of people: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don't - but here's another useful division: People who get round to things and People who don't. There's a saying 'If you want a job done, ask a busy man' and it has a deal of truth in it. A busy person is, self-evidently, a person who gets round to doing things; an underoccupied person is one who doesn't. A busy person is also likely to be one who knows how to manage his time to fit into it as much as he can, and to get jobs out of the way with as much dispatch as possible. As I draw near my seventh decade (Lord, there's a thought) and life gets relentelssly busier rather than quieter, I find myself organising my time more and more - in order not to let it got to waste, and, mostly, in the interests of fitting in as many pleasurable activities (reading, walking, listening to music etc) as possible. I am the more busy that I may spend more time pleasurably and profitably 'idle'. On the other hand, if you want a job done, please don't ask me.

7 comments:

  1. Old favourite:-

    There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who can count in binary and those who can't.

    'nother one:-

    There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who think that there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don't.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Everyone seems to have gone category crazy. It's Nick Griffin who started it, believe it or not.

    I've now concluded there are two sorts of people in the world: taxonomists who want to categorise everyone and taxidermists who then want to stuff the other side.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Two things are certain in life: death and taxonomy. Boom, boom.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The most surprising thing you will find upon reaching retirement is how much busier you can become, this may sound incredible, it is however, usually true.
    You can genuinely say that you do not know where you found the time to go to work. A lifetime spent placing projects on the back burner that now, suddenly, must be.
    There should be a wrinklies trade union..'The Meldrew and Shearings Amalgamated'

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't suppose you could come round and re-plaster the ceiling in my front room, could you Nige?

    ReplyDelete
  6. You need Prof Colin Pillinger for that, Brit. Only FRS who can plaster a ceiling...

    ReplyDelete
  7. ... and he can milk your cow while he's at it.

    ReplyDelete