The other day, while contemplating what to write about this week, a song came on the radio I hadn’t heard for years.
“Funny How Time Slips Away” is a reflective ballad about lost love and regrets.
I couldn’t identify the singer, but the presenter said the composer was Willie Nelson, which I once thought was a particularly painful wrestling hold.
I left the house, got in my car and the first song on the car radio was Jim Croce’s haunting “Time In A Bottle”.
The opening lines, “If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I’d like to do, is save every day ‘til eternity passes away, just to spend them with you” are all the more poignant when you remember that, a few days after he died in a car accident, Jim’s wife found a letter he’d written telling her he intended to stop touring and spend more time with her and their son.
Two entirely different songs that remind us that time passes so quickly.
In fact, it’s passing right now, so once you’ve read this, go and do something interesting!
But cheer up!
Here’s an amusing story about the passing of time.
Tommy Trinder was one of our greatest comedians in his day and the original compere of “Sunday Night At The London Palladium”.
For years he headlined summer seasons, usually from early June to late September, in resorts like Eastbourne, Margate and Bournemouth.
Wherever he’d be working for the summer, his wife would drive him there, ensure his accommodation was of a suitable standard and stay with him for the rehearsals and the opening night.
The following day, after kissing him goodbye, she always warned him, “Now Tommy. You watch yourself with those chorus girls!” before driving back to Fulham, leaving Tommy to pack in the punters, until the end of the season when she’d return to collect him.
This went on for years, until one June morning as she left, she said, “Now, Tommy. You watch yourself crossing the road!”
Proof indeed that time can slip right away . . .