Categories: uncategorized
Date: 29 June 2006 11:22:38
I looked at my watch and it was 11:23
I remember that in the last couple of years at my first secondary school we always had a double period of English just before lunch, from 10:50 to 12 noon. It was probably only once a week, but often enough for me to spot a pattern. The pattern was that the lesson would start, and get more and more boring until I couldn't even remember ever having a will to live. And I would resist looking at my watch because I knew that would make the time drag even more. Eventually, of course, I would look. And the time was 11:23. Every time. It seems as if my mind could cope with 33 minutes of excruciating pointless boredom, but that was my limit and after precisely 33 minutes I would crack, look at my watch, and then have to endure the thought of another 37 minutes of this. Ever since then 11:23 has been a special time for me, and if I happen to look at my watch then it brings back all sorts of memories. Not entirely bad ones (boring lessons were, relatively, a highlight of school) but possibly not ones that my teachers would be proud of. At least I hope they wouldn't. But actually, now I come to think of it, excruciating boredom was probably their aim. After all, you surely couldn't produce such exquisite specimens of boredom as a mere by-product, could you? And the thought crossed my mind recently that being bored is better than being bad. Whether that thought is right or not is something I'll chew over later.