Time

       It’s March already! How time flies!

       They say that ‘Time flies like an arrow’ but ‘Fruit flies like a banana’.

       Strangely, the older you are the faster that time seems to slip past. One wonders why this should be.

       There are probably many reasons why this should be. Perhaps answers abound from philosophers as well as psychiatrists.

       For my part, I suspect that the accretion of many years of knowledge and experience are jostling for room in the brain and, in so doing, create distraction and thoughts that are not necessarily in any sequence or logical order. This activity is distracting to the point of losing track of time, which, as we know, is extremely flexible in its delivery to us.

       Let me explain that part.

       It is common knowledge that the working day, especially when slow and tedious, lasts a long time but that the weekend will flash past if we are involved in something, to us, entertaining. Time varies in its pace and with individuals.

       Further to that, the effect of time for an individual person can be varied by that same individual. Sports persons, for example, can dilate time to their advantage; they might, for example, ‘slow down’ the rate at which a ball will arrive at them so that they can make a more accurate judgement on how to strike the ball with foot, hand or racquet.

       Top Boxers and Fencers have a similar ability that puts them a fraction of a second ahead of their opponent.

       There is an illusionist who immerses himself for long periods in water and offers other life threatening ‘tricks’ to entertain the public. It is believed that he is able to not only slow down his heartbeat and metabolism but he also slows time (in his head) to make it easier to bear the exigencies of these acts.

       Thus I believe that the older you get the busier your mind becomes. Memories, especially older ones (since more recent ones tend to fade away!), take up a lot of mental time and activity.

       In a practical sense the attenuation of time as a tool in fighting was developed by me in the stories of the Adepts and, specifically, their fighting girls from Paya.

       The first story that mentions these girls, ‘Rhittach’, demonstrates this idea in full.

       I have every confidence that, in the future, there will be athletes, among others, that will develop this ability.

       Who knows how many records will tumble if this happens?

       My only regret is that I shall not be here to witness it. My time is draining away too quickly for that!