Time. A piece inspired by London.
Wandering through the streets of London, you can't help but notice the impressive presence of Time. Clocks are everywhere you turn; adorning Parliament, Westminster Abbey, countless cathedrals, and busy market squares. The chiming of Big Ben demands your attention and alerts you to the passing of the hours. The world clock paces its time from just outside this thriving city. "Stand here," the Greenwich Meridian Line suggests, "and you'll be at the very center of world time." The changing of the guard, a London tourist's must-see, occurs precisely at 11:30 AM each day. "How lucky you are," my London cabbie remarked while driving me to my hotel, "your first time in London and you're experiencing it! You're doing in one shot, what took me 5 tries as a young boy." How 'bout that? Timing is everything, I replied.
But what's the obsession with Time, London? In a world of "hurry", you're going to miss the moments that take your breath away. Take some time to notice those moments. Stay in them awhile, and take in the way you feel there. Some day -- those moments, those memories, will mean more to you than any that you've quickly captured in a photo. They can't be accidentally deleted, or replaced in a frame.
For a girl who is perpetually late, you'd think I would have felt out of place in the city of Time. ("It's called fashionably late for a reason," a friend once told me. Now that's an olive branch, if I've ever seen one!) But I didn't. I fell in love with that city because aside from the clocks ticking away, I was present there. Whatever powers that brought me to London, brought me there at the exact right time. Not too late -- a shared experience wouldn't allow me the freedom to wander. Not too soon -- I wouldn't have been ready to take the journey on my own. It was perfect timing. My visit to London further renewed my belief in fate, and made me realize...
You can never be too late for your date with destiny.