Procrastination Is The Thief Of Time

I can well remember when I was a nipper my Grandad intoning the title of this piece in his soft North Wales lilt whenever anyone around him was dithering about. I used to think he had made up this marvellously poetic homily, because seemingly ancient Grandads are wise beyond measure when you're seven years old, but it turns out to be a quote from Edward Young, English poet, critic and dramatist 1683-1765...(isn't the interwebby a great thing!)...

“Procrastination is the thief of time:
Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves
The vast concerns of an eternal scene"

Groovy baby, I really like that!

As I'm sure you know, procrastination is the act of putting off making a big decision by concentrating on more trivial ones, a theme only very tenuously relevant to two things that came up for consideration during my march to work this morning, in that I cannot make my mind up one way or t'other on either.

Firstly, the proposal in the pipeline to put the clocks forward two hours in March, thereby putting us permanently in line with Western Europe. This is the unintentionally funny opening gambit in a reply to BBC Breakfast's Facebook debate on the issue...

"We have become slaves to time since its creation........."  I don't consider that the poster thought that through properly!

Seriously though, do I agree or disagree with the proposal? Well, from a personal point of view I find getting up in the dark and going to work under the orange glow of street lighting a real downer, much more so than coming home under artificial light. Presently dark mornings only happen for a brief period between mid December and mid January, but under a GMT+1 winter scenario that period would be greatly extended, even here at the southern end of the East Midlands.

Then there's the old chestnut about the possibility of more road accidents in the dark winter mornings, but surely there would be less in the early evening to compensate?

I can also sympathise with those in Northern England who would find dark mornings even more of a problem. The Scots could surely opt out as they have their own over-subsidised Parliament (stop that - that's another story).

The pro double summertime lobby will say that it would be good for business, particularly for tourism based economies in the summer. Conversely surely that means more disruption for those who are trying to get some kip caused by late night (but still in the light) revellers?

In mid June it would stay light until around 11pm on a clear day here in Shoesville, with sunset being around 10:30pm, and obviously even later up North, see the table in this BBC article for projected sunset and sunrise times.

I can actually see both sides of the argument, so my conclusion is inconclusive!
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The second choice we will soon have is whether or not to approve the Alternative Vote method to replace the current first past the post system for electing MPs to Parliament. Again, I cannot make my mind up on this one. It may give a slightly more fair result than at present, but the thousands who vote Green, or for that matter BNP, and indeed any other minority party will be no nearer having any representation in Parliament in my opinion.

Take a specific example, Brighton, which was won by the Greens in May 2010 with a vote of 16238, a small majority of 1292 over Labour, with the Tories a further 2711 behind. The Lib Dems came a distant 4th with 7159 votes. This seat would surely have reverted to a two horse race between Labour and the Greens under the Alternative Vote system, as Tory second choices would be split between UKIP and Lib Dem, but not enough to the latter to make a difference. Although it is hard to say for certain, my guess is enough of the 4th place Lib Dem second choice vote would have gone to Labour to eventually give them the 1 vote over 50% required to win the seat after the Tories had dropped out of the race, so AV would not have helped the minority party in this case, quite the reverse.

In principle I'm all for PR but I think AV achieves the least for true democracy, so I'll maybe possibly definitely vote No, but I'm open to persuasion either way. I also think the electorate, who have far more pressing worries in these hard times, will provide a miniscule turnout, and when that happens it is usually those who have the conviction to vote for an issue who win the day, so AV might get the nod by default.
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Finally, with decision making still in mind, a thought - The alarm goes off in the morning - is your next action, be it hitting the snooze button or turning on the radio or whatever, a reflex action or a choice? Do you choose to brush your teeth in the morning or do you just do it? When is an action the result of a decision or simply a reflex conditioned over time? Discuss.....
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Did you know that Kenny Dalglish plays spoons on Jona Lewie's "You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties"?
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