Long before speed cameras were installed on the A583, my personal best driving time from my little house in Layton to my place of work in Preston was seventeen minutes. This was early morning, summertime and green traffic lights. I promise I kept to the speed limits until I was on open road, in that quiet window between the factory workers heading to British Aerospace or GEC setting off for Strand Road, and regular morning traffic building up. I liked to arrive at work for seven-forty-five. I liked to be one of the first in.
One morning I was thwarted by incidents beyond my control. A
minor collision between a car and a van had occurred on the bend at Lea,
blocking the road and putting traffic in both directions at a standstill for
ages. This was in the old days, before reaching for a mobile phone was second
nature. As time marched on and despite the soothing tone of Terry Wogan keeping
me company on the radio, I began to feel stressed. Out of three key holders, I
was the only one expected in work that day. The other two both lived in
Blackpool and would have had the same problem as me, had they tried to get
there. All I could do was wait. Eventually, things were moving and I managed to
fly up Riversway, lucky green lights, all the way to work and a car park full
of patiently waiting staff. I gave apologies and explained the situation, which
they were aware of as someone had heard a traffic report on local radio.
“Bad biorhythms day, love?” A colleague offered sympathy
when we were inside the building, unlocking doors and switching off the alarm.
She made me laugh, if nothing else. Biorhythms had become popular at that time,
mid-eighties. I remember someone having a book about it and learning how to
work out biorhythm cycles. I just thought it was a fad, I still do. I believe
that my thoughts and feelings are all to do with how I might deal with
something, be it stressful or otherwise, and not where I might be up to on a
biorhythm cycle. Of course, I might have it all wrong.
From Wikipedia – “The biorhythm theory is the
pseudoscientific idea that our daily lives are significantly affected by
rhythmic cycles with periods of exactly 23, 28 and 33 days, typically a 23 day
physical cycle, a 28 day emotional cycle and a 33 day intellectual cycle. The
idea was developed by Wilhelm Fliess in the late 19th century and
was popularised in the United States in late 1970s. The proposal has been
independently tested and consistently no validity for it has been found.”
There it is. The cynical side of me is amused that a man
decided to refer to the 28 day cycle as ‘emotional’.
Biorhythm readings, predictions, whatever is the best
description, are available online. On the strength of nothing more than my date
of birth, this reading came back in a nanosecond: ‘Physical’ – Efficiency is
high. Use it. ‘Emotional’ – There will be light at the end of the tunnel.
Sitting in your shell is not much fun. ‘Intellectual’ – Getting better with
intellectual skills, if work needs concentration, it’s good to do it within the
next ten days.
Actually, I’m having lots of fun sitting in my shell, being
efficient and doing my own thing, be it intellectual or not. Everyone who
shares my date of birth will have the same reading, just like a horoscope.
A bad biorhythms day as suggested by my colleague all those
years ago means nothing. Sat in a traffic jam, concerned about staff, unable to
let them know and feeling tense because of it is all there was to it.
My haiku:
All this biorhythm stuff,
I don’t believe it.
Don’t bother checking,
Nothing more than horoscope.
Take life as it comes.
PMW 2021
Thanks for reading, take care, Pam x