When "Just Now" Means Later

A slower pace can feel like a gift at sixty and like a drain at seventy if you are waiting on a doctor.

By Neil Solomon · 2 min read

Picture a couple named Gordon and Alice who have always been punctual. They arrive in a new country and are told a repair will happen "just now." They wait all afternoon. Gordon checks his watch. Alice puts the kettle on.

I think this is the real test of a slower pace. It is not about the place. It is about what happens inside you.

South Africa: "just now"

One person living in Johannesburg wrote that "just now" really means later. Not a minute from now, not today, perhaps. She laughed about it, and I take her laugh as the sign she had adapted. In her telling, the phrase went from irritating to funny once she stopped counting.

Kenya: no hurry

A forum voice about Kenya says there is no hurry. I read this as patience handed down. Things take the time they take, and the person who rushes mostly rushes alone. For some readers this will sound like peace. For others it will sound like a week lost to a form.

Morocco: nothing by post

A person in Morocco described living more slowly because nothing arrives in the mail. No pile of envelopes, no daily nudge from somewhere else. Her days opened up. I find this an interesting idea. Part of what we call a fast life is simply what comes to the door.

Back to Gordon and Alice.

"He said just now," Gordon muttered.

"And it is just now," Alice said, handing him a cup. "He has not said which one."

Gordon laughed in spite of himself. That was the afternoon he stopped looking at his watch.

I do not think everyone will enjoy this. A slower pace can feel like a gift at sixty and like a drain at seventy if you are waiting on a doctor. What helps, I think, is to separate the waiting that is pleasant from the waiting that matters. A late plumber is one thing. A late test result is another.