Late, as usual

I went to another meeting tonight (for those of you keeping track, yes, this was the third one this week!)

Anyway, I thought that this particular meeting started at 7:00 PM. I arrived at 7:07. Luckily for me, it turned out that there was a bit of confusion about the actual start time (the handful of people there when I arrived thought it started at 7:00, but the large group which showed up later thought it started at 7:30). Since the majority of expected participants weren't there at 7:00, the meeting facilitator waited for them, and started the discussion at 7:30. So it actually seemed as if I had arrived early.

That is probably the only time I will be early for a meeting. I'm usually late.

That fact is a bit pathetic when you consider that it doesn't take long to get to anywhere from anywhere in the village. It might take 10 minutes, and that would be worst case scenario, if you were driving from one end of town all the way to the other, encountered a string of ferry traffic along the way, and were stopped by a person who wanted to chat! It usually takes only 5 minutes to get to most places. You might think that this would mean that most people (including me) would be on time for things, since it's not difficult to leave home with enough time to ensure arrival before the meeting/event starts. The short travel time ends up working against me, though, because I plan to leave at the last possible minute since "it will only take 5 minutes to get there" (or so the reasoning goes). What this looks like in reality, however, is that at 5 minutes before meeting start time, I'm still finishing the last thing I need to do before I can leave. I therefore end up leaving at (or even after!) the time I was supposed to be there in the first place. And no matter how small your village, or how short your drive, it's not possible to be on time with that strategy!

So I'm usually late. What works in my favor is that often times the meetings start late. (Maybe because I'm not the only one who is usually late!) That reality only reinforces my bad behavior, since I don't miss anything by being late.

But maybe all of this is not a bad thing. It's a reflection of the "who cares what time it is? I'm on Ocracoke!" attitude around here. Some gift shops even sell t-shirts that say "I'm on island time".

I'll copy the ocracokeblog.com blogger, and sign off by saying "Until next time, then...". Seems fitting.