Pace

I live in an area that is popular with tourists, starting in Spring the roads get steadily busier and we encounter the occasional queue!  For a few weekends in August the traffic through our village becomes unbearable as several large events are held in our village and the next one to us.  The volume in itself would be just about bearable but coupled with the speed it becomes very noisy and dangerous.

We chose to live in a rural area as we love the peace and quiet.  We are situated on a main road which enables us to get out and about easily, it is a quiet road by the standards of many main roads.  When the traffic is heavier I have noticed how much more agitated and on edge this makes me feel.  The noise that hundreds of cars travelling 10 to 20 miles in excess of the speed limit is difficult to block out, coupled with my need to know where the children are at at all times and I am not a good person to be around.

We have speed limits on our roads, in built up areas whether in a village, town or city this is 20 - 30 mph, a limit imposed to keep us all safe in and out of vehicles.  An accident at speeds higher than this could be very serious.  There are some that argue that speeding is not the major cause of accidents in this country and use this as an argument against speed cameras.  I note that they are not arguing about the removal of speed limits.  So why is it that if we break the law by speeding and get caught on camera this is felt by some to be an injustice.  We are lucky as are most people in the world, to live in a country with governance (what we think of that is a whole other post) that enables law and order to thrive and whilst there are citizens who break the law they are very much in the minority (again this could be disputed but is not up for discussion now).  So why is it in a country of (mostly) law abiding citizens so many feel it is acceptable to ignore the law when they drive a car?

I took my children to the cinema the other week, they were very excited not least because it was a film they both really wanted to see and because it was their first time watching a film in a cinema.  Well strictly it was the second time for my eldest but he doesn't remember the first time so that doesn't really count in his book.  The Lego Movie was fun to watch but I missed so much of it, it was so fast paced.  If I tried to watch the visuals, I missed the audio and if I listened to the audio, I missed most of the visual.  I guess this probably deliberate to get you to watch the film over and over again, not that I am cynical or anything.   I couldn't help feeling that it was also deliberate as life in general for most is fast paced.  Rushing from one thing to another, dipping your toe in many things but not with any real chance of savouring any of it or with any real concentration or connection with what you are doing.  Instant gratification is the key.  I often watch school groups in museums who seem to flit like flies from one exhibit to another herded by a harried looking adult trying to stick to a schedule that is difficult to achieve and with no chance for the children to really concentrate and absorb the things that they are really interested in.

Sometimes I look at the world around me and think that I have entered a different vortex.  My life is slow and steady.  I am fortunate that I rarely have to rush about, which is a good thing as I know it would send me to an early grave.  My life is far from dull, it is rich.  I enjoy the simple pleasures, I am happy to wait whilst my children spend twenty minutes absorbed on something, concentration is a useful skill to have.  But sometimes I cannot help feeling that my life is at odds with the world, that I am pushing against a very large tide that is growing exponentially.  It is easy for me to hide away in my own world but sometimes I feel that is not for the best, that I should be out there extolling the virtues of a slower pace.  Somehow I think I could be left behind in the rush.