Watch trap

In retrospect, my decision earlier this year to wear a watch again seems fitting, given my growing preoccupation with time. I’m not the first person to wrestle with this intangible yet unavoidable aspect of life, especially in middle age. But, much like the watch strap against my wrist, the unexpected richness of this year has left its mark. The ancient Greeks had two ways of thinking about time. Chronos was time as measured: years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. Kairos was a significant or opportune moment: the point when something could happen or an event acquired a particular importance. One concerned the measurement of time, the other the significance of a moment within it. A number of evenings this year have seen me participate in a pub quiz after work. Last week there was a question about Princess Diana’s funeral. Where were you when you heard that she had died? I had recently turned 17. It was a Sunday morning, and I was cleaning out a cat pen at my parents’ kennels.…