life in the fast lane

What is it with the islands & their unique sense of keeping time? Is there really a need for the Island Time philosophy? Yes, some say the heat & the idyllic ocean scenery just makes it impossible not to slow down & sometimes makes you sluggish but sometimes the island time concept really doesn't work.

In Dubai, some offices & most stores shut down daily from noon to four or so for a desert siesta, to reopen at four, with stores staying till 10pm or later. The afternoon time of relaxation is much needed to refuel the body from the sweltering humid desert heat of 50+ deg Cel. Most countries in the Middle East adopt some variation of this siesta policy & it really does work. Well, it has to, besides who wouldn't love a two to four hour lunch ?

We came from a fast paced busy hectic lifestyle that is Toronto & now when we do go back to visit, we realize how hectic our life was by just watching our family go about their daily routine. Here in Bermuda, we've almost assimilated ourselves into the island time lifestyle but for a couple of things that we still can't seem to shake off or even want to embrace. For these we prefer life to be in the fast lane. Or moderately so. Take driving, for example. I am no speed demon & I take my driving seriously, but why is it that some drivers take forever to make their turns or even drive. 35 kms is excruciatingly slow, I know & so almost no one can or even does adhere to this speed limit (except for the really old folk & maybe a nervous driver or two). Face it, if we all did adhere to this speed limit, we'd get no where & we'd inadvertently be taking the island time concept down a notch! Is that even possible?