a rooskie in dublin

Will be there in a few minutes

By Irina Kuksova

****************

When talking about the subjectivity of time, lots of people mention Spain. Surely in that country, time has a life of its own. Minutes and hours are stretched randomly according to people's likes and whims. I often think my Spanish friends live in a completely different universe. It's enough for them to SAY something to consider it done, and then completely forget about actually doing it. Many is the number of pizzas we never had, after deciding on a date, time and place to get together. Restaurants probably went out of business because of our bookings.

Then again if the Spanish world feels so different, what sort of world do I myself live in? I have been forever traumatised by my university years in Moscow. Waking up at 5.50am just to face 2+ hours of an on-foot bus journey, especially in winter, disciplined me in a pretty rough way. The punch line at the end of that journey was not being admitted to a lecture because of being one or two minutes late. Thus my world view about time keeping and appointments is quite black and white. One is either late or not, no matter how long the trip takes.

Living in Ireland has added a shade of grey to my vision. You often hear "will be there in a few minutes," in this country. What's considered "few" is still a mystery to me. Unlike the Spanish, the Irish WILL actually show up. But it's sorta hard to say when. My latest research on the matter supports the theory that multiplying by four is pretty accurate. This way, if an Irishman says "be there in five minutes," you can have twenty minutes of guilt free window shopping and still be on time for your appointment. If he says "fifteen minutes," you might as well enjoy a leisurely lunch.

I still feel quite guilty every time I am personally late. The good thing is, I am in the right country to learn some flexibility. So it should not take much time. I am sure to be flexible by this time next year... Give or take an hour!