Now. Sooner = better. Now will just about do.

I need patience...

...and I need it now.

My old doctor was trying to understand why my blood pressure soars on medical premises.

“What do you think causes it?” he asked.

“The waiting room.”

“The room?”

“The waiting.”

He was doing his best to understand, and, often the case, only under scrutiny did I start to work out what was going on myself.”

“So, if you've got a one o'clock appointment, are you okay...” he said.

“Up to one o'clock, yes.”

“Then what?”

“Well, at one minute past...”

“Yes?”

The penny dropped:

“Actually, at one minute past, without receiving any explanation or apology...”

“Yes?”

“I'm incandescent with rage.”

All it takes is communication and honesty. Sorry. The doctor's running ten / fifteen / twenty minutes late. That's all it takes. Then you can decide whether to stick or twist. Wait or bail out and rebook another appointment. I think that's the issue. They don't want you calling it quits and sorting out another appointment. More administration, possibly bad on their key performance indicators, and a blank slot for a doctor's appointment book. So it's in their interest to keep you hanging on, hanging about, your life on hold because they're running late.

Same with the trains. At the station this morning, the board said the 0720 had arrived. They're big things, trains. I know it was foggy, but if it was there, I'd've seen it. Blatant misinformation. If anyone depended on the board for accurate information, they'd' have walked off the edge of the platform and burnt to a cinder on the third rail. Better still, at London Bridge, the board said the 10:54 was anticipated at 10:59. It said that at 11:01. Clearly, either Southeastern have mastered time travel (they've certainly and spectacularly failed to master railway travel), or the board's displaying utter tripe, again working to the performance targets and not the customers' benefit.

It does beg questions about the sanity of our train operators. Our safety is in the hands of an organisation that anticipates the arrival of one of their trains in the past.

“Here's your five pence.”

“But you asked for a return to London. That's £43.75.”

“I'm paying 1908 prices. From the past, like.”

“What? That's ridiculous and insane.”

“You started it. Invisible trains arriving in the past.”