How did that happen?

There I was, happily drifting through the month, vaguely remembering the poem "Oh, to be in England now that April's there", when all of a sudden I was no longer in April but May had sneaked in on me.  Now, I have nothing against May; it's a great month as months go.  Both my brother and I were born in May so it must be a pretty good month.  But I would have liked just a little more warning.  After all, it's quite unfair of those months to sneak up on a chap while a chap is happily musing about another month.  Anyway, we're here now, and there's no way back.  Well, not until somebody invents a real time machine.

I don't think I would very much want to go back in time.  I suppose it could be interesting to pay a visit to, say, the 16th century just to see what life really was like, but I wouldn't want to stay too long.  A couple of hours would be about enough time, I would think, to get a flavour of life.  Certainly no longer than half a day.  Just imagine it: no tea or coffee to drink, just small beer.  No car to get around in, just a horse to ride or use Shanks's pony.  No flicking a switch to get instant light.

Even if it was merely a matter of winding the clock back a bit, say 20 or 30 years or so, I don't think I would want to go through all that again.  But would I?  Go through all that again, I mean.  Perhaps it would be rather like those computer versions of solitaire and we could undo something and try a different way.  I suppose that could have its advantages in that if a decision I made turned out to be wrong, I could simply change my mind.  But just imagine what chaos could ensue if everybody had the same opportunities - and perhaps different people could wind the clock back differently.  I might wind the clock back 10 years, but a friend, colleague of family member might want to wind the clock back 20.  We'd none of us know what was happening or where we were!

Looking the other way, I wouldn't want to know what lies ahead.  I've never believed in fortune telling or horoscopes and I am really very pleased that they are just a load of flannel.

It all puts carpe diem into a different perspective.