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I may have to get divorced: this happiness stuff makes time go too quickly

Toby Young

Wednesday, 2nd January 2008

What happened? Where did 2007 go? Come to think of it, where did the last 10 years go? It’s as though there’s an egg-timer on my desk that measures how much time I have left, only it isn’t working properly. When I keep my eyes on it, the sand trickles through at a steady pace, but whenever I look away the hole opens up and vast quantities of sand fall through at an alarming rate. How else to explain the fact that there’s so little left? I’m reminded of one of John Cleese’s soliloquies in Fawlty Towers: ‘Zzzhhoom. What was that? That was your life, mate. Oh, that was quick. Do I get another? Sorry, mate, that’s your lot.’

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Alexander

January 9th, 2008 7:29pm

I think that the answer is rather simpler than you imagine. The older you get, the fewer truely new experiences you have on any given day. I spent two weeks visiting a friend in Japan. Almost every taste, smell and sound was different than anything that I had experienced before. Time slowed down drastically -- to the point that it was difficult to remember what I'd seen and done in the morning. The last time that I remember feeling like that I was seven or so.