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Better always late than selectively late

Better always to be late than selectively so

Harry Mount

Wednesday, 24th October 2007

A defence of the neglected virtue of punctuality

A Cambridge classics don, the father of a friend of mine, says that there’s a bigger difference between today’s undergraduates and those of 15 years ago, than between those of 15 years ago and those of half a millennium before, and all because of the mobile phone. Fifteen years ago, students rarely even had a landline and so communicated by pigeon post, the inter-college postal system. The old tradition of agreeing, a day in advance, to meet at a particular time at a particular place, meant people took the meetings more seriously. They were less likely to be late, spent longer at them, and more people were likely to attend.

A constantly updateable message system — i.e. a mobile phone — means a constantly moveable feast; literally, with people turning up at meals at different stages of the evening, extending drinks when things are going well, and cancelling them if they suddenly can’t face an evening out.

The same logic applies beyond the world of students. Greater ease in making appointments means greater ease in being late or missing them altogether. Mr White Man’s Time has fallen victim to Mr White Man’s Technology.

Harry Mount’s Amo, Amas, Amat and All That ... How To Become a Latin Lover is published by Short Books (£12.99)

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