Time

Time? 

What is time? - don't look at your watches!

I'm going to try and go a little deeper than that!!

Was time invented or

is it that it just is?

time seems like a force of nature

"to every season - turn turn"

And a time for everything...!

Right?

But it wasn't always that way. 

If we look at the mid to late 19th century something happened

We invented railways for instance

trains began to run

A member of the house of Lords jumped on a train in London in the early morning

went down to Exeter on the newly opened Bristol to Exeter railway

and then returned to London for supper the same day!

This was unheard of

so if people were to catch a train

they needed to know when it would depart

people had to create the concept of time as we know it now

So, Yes

time – or our modern conception of time was invented.

Most of us are into time at a much lower level.

Some of us see time as

"Have I got time to have another pint before the wife realizes I'm in the pub?"

Douglas Adams 

he of "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" wrote

"Time is an illusion - lunchtime doubly so!" Lol

I tend to agree!

Time for most of us is the reality of the daily grind

the train in the morning 

the train we have to get up for 

to go to work

time is being woken at a god-awful time

by a god-awful time-piece

so as we can get to that god-awful job

on time!

Time is the 60 seconds to grab breakfast

it's 30 seconds to grab a coffee mid-morning...

and yes - lunchtime does fly by! (If we get one at all!)

Time to many is

 "you can only leave your car here for for 1 hour and you can't return before another hour has passed!" Why is that?

One of the biggest wants in regard to time - I believe 

is time travel.

There can't be anyone here who hasn't at some point in their lives had the thought

"I wish I could go back in time and try that again!"

or

"I wish I could fast-forward this boring meeting!"

We'd all love time-travel wouldn't we?

What about the question

"Can time go backwards?"

Apparently, 

traveling backwards in time is much harder

yet, mathematics says it is possible!

So time to us is more basic than what the scientists say.

Scientifically in physics

time is defined as 

"the measure of a change in a physical quantity 

or a magnitude

used to quantify the duration of events" - I think I get that

Things change and time measures the duration of that change

or on other words 

you get paid at the end of the month

and rapidly (over the next few weeks)

you get poorer

and poorer!

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an American theoretical cosmologist 

and particle physicist 

I can't even get her name and title right!

at the University of New Hampshire. 

She says:

"According to Einstein's general theory of relativity, 

space and time are tied together, 

and space-time can bend and curve. The way to think about it is that that curvature is stretching out time." 

Stay with me!

So true time is actually much more flexible than most people realize - try telling that to the traffic warden who's writing you out a ticket cos you stayed longer than an hour!

Time has promoted many sayings

• Time is money.
• Time waits for no man
• Better three hours too soon than a minute too late
• Lost time is never found

etc etc. 

You've heard them.

Time is limited

My time here in front of you is limited

My time reading this (or listening, depending on how you are consuming my work) - doubly so!

For all of us

that god-awful alarm clock is ticking - unless yours is digital 

Either way - our time is limited

So, I hope my aim of confusing you even more about the the subject of time has come to pass

I thank you for your time,

listening to me (or reading this piece)

and I hope it hasn't been a waste of your time 

That's interesting isn't it!? Someone came up with the thought that time is so precious, 

we mustn't waste it

like water in a drought

food in a famine

coins, 

hard earnt money

falling through a hole in your pocket...

So - next time you look at your watch

or stare at a clock

or rush to catch that train

Remember these words:

"Time is an illusion - lunchtime doubly so!" 

Thank you for your time!

The Universe

Q: How did the universe begin?

A: The universe began with an explosion of whatever matter was there at the time - humans have called this event "The Big Bang!"

Q: Ah but what was there before the big bang?

A: Well, in 1927, Georges Lemaître proposed that the universe started as a 'singularity"...

You know:

"the state, fact, quality, or condition of being singular". 

I think he meant

"It just was - so shut up and except it!

...and it expanded because of the big bang.

Q: So what caused the big bang?

A: The big bang came about  because every bit of what was to become the universes energy was all squashed into a very, very small area.

You know like when you try to push too much shopping into your one shopping bag - you never have enough shopping bags with you do you, 

then as you try to push that one last item in, it all starts to pop out, 

the bag bursts 

and you end up with your shopping all over the floor with a frustrated queue of people behind you at the checkout!

This is what happened to create the universe. 

Someone or something tried to put too much cosmic shopping into an already densely packed cosmic shopping bag 

which then exploded - dropping cosmic shopping all over the floor! 

This time with such an unimaginable force, 

it created the matter we know as the universe, 

propelling it outwards.

Q: Yeah, but how do we get to the universe as we now know it?

A: Space expanded, 

the overfilled cosmic shopping bag, the contents of which had exploded  

is the universe, 

it started to cool, 

you would get a bit heated if your shopping bag burst,

and the simplest of elements were formed. 

Gravity gradually drew matter together 

like the cashier running round trying to pick up all your grocers from the floor into another bag - for which they charged you 35p,

all of which then formed the first stars and the first galaxies.

Q: So is the universe is still expanding?

A: Well you would have thought so! That shopping you dropped got everywhere, 

those tomatoes rolled five aisles away!

There's a twist! Modern science has been able to determine that the universe is still expanding and it is expanding in all directions,

much like your shopping did!

Q: So what is the universe expanding into?

A: Ah! Here is the twist!

Apparently, the universe isn't rolling five aisles away, it isn't expanding into anything!

The expansion of the universe is with time, 

like your tomatoes rolled five hours away but are still there with you in the space the till, the checkout, 

the irate people in the queue and the frantic cashier take up!

It is an intrinsic expansion; the universe does not expand "into" anything and does not require space to exist "outside" it.

I will just give you a minute for your brains to cool down

I repeat:

"It is an intrinsic expansion; 

the universe does not expand "into" anything and does not require space to exist "outside" it."

"Intrinsic: belonging to the essential nature or constitution of a thing."

From this point on we get into the realm of fairies, unicorns and pixies 

and it sounds like science doesn't really know - and so is making it up

because...

Outside this expansion lies a higher dimensional

 "space-time" universe 

which we are unfolding into. 

Since it is higher dimension, 

we cannot see, 

detect, 

or comprehend it!?

SO HOW DO WE KNOW IT'S THERE?!!!!

You get what I mean? 

Making it up!

At this point, the cashier might as well be a unicorn, 

the till "The Never Never Land" 

and the irate people behind you in the queue, 

a talking Lion!

Yet another hypothosis is that we are stuck inside the black hole of a larger universe outside of it.

Now...

Does any of it matter? 

As we struggle to get the last 5p you need to pay the bus driver your exact fare, 

out of your pocket, 

to get into town, 

to do your shopping, 

with your one shopping bag, 

so as when you get to the cashier, 

it won't all fit in your bag, 

and your bag explodes...

Does it matter?

Probably not!

So don't worry!

Thank you.

(Haiku)

Today is going

to be a "watch TV and 

eat crisps" sort of day

Stone Circle

Peacefully standing 

hidden amongst trees and bracken 

in the corner of a Cornish field

up and ancient trackway

stood so 

for thousands of years 

available only to those who come looking for them

concealed amongst myths and legends 

so many questions unanswered

many experts have scratched many learn-ed chins

many words have been written

by the many poets; inspired

...by this ancient stone circle 

sat amidst an ancient land.

Click here to hear me read this piece 

A Way Of Life

Lost in a land of mist and fog - no signal to be found on the car radio

in the land of bent-over trees and hedgerows 

blow the land of Atlantic gales

the land of bursting summer roads

of strange tounge-twisting place names 

a language

culture and history

a land of former industries

huge holes dug in the ground 

giant spoil heaps reaching to its skies

inspiration for the spoken word of theatre and film

writers and poets.

Painters

photographers and illustrators and are stirred by its long stunning beaches

whose waves draw the worlds surfers to them

a land of sand

harbours

moorlands

tors

open countryside to walk

wildlife to seek

ancient sites to discover 

and clear blue waters to swim in.

This is not a place - but a way of life!

What more do you need

...than Cornwall?

Click here to hear me read this piece 

Doing His Rounds

I got into a mess at Eton

my house-master advised me to leave

he added I wasn't their sort of chap

and that I was 

very hard to

believe 

I got very bored at Oxford

and Cambridge let me down

all that punting upon the river 'Cam'

and those bicycles in the town

So I went to work at NASA

it seemed a fun place to be

I thought I would be an astronaut 

but it just wasn't right for me

So I fancied a dabble on the 'markets'

some went up and some went down

I made myself a small fortune

so bought a small 'condo' in town

I had a good contact at 'Glasto'

who asked could I dust off my 'spoons'

he said he'd have room for some sets 

could I give them a few of my tunes?

I fancied flying fighter jets

so I gave the 'RAF' a bell

they said they couldn't fit me in

and my flying skills weren't up to scatch as well

I hadn't tried being a spy

but I thought it could be fun

I had a smattering of Russian and

I was fairly good with a gun

But no, it was then that Mummy called

and I quickly 'reassemble lifes threads'

she asked if I was feeling alright 

and she reminded me to take all my 'meds'

and to tidy things up 

and to give him no grounds

for the doctor 

would soon

be doing his rounds!

Click here to hear me read this piece