Is it just ME?

Or is it actually a joy when friends turn up late?

I HAVE punctuality OCD. I have never been late for anyone or anything in my life — ever! Weird, but true.

And so it is, I must have spent what adds up to days, even weeks, waiting for people.

Sometimes, if I’m meeting someone to catch a train together or to go to an event, I can become irritated for fear of missing a good seat, the beginning of a play or film, or the best bit of a party.

More often than not, though, I love it when family, friends or colleagues are late.

This is especially so if we have arranged to meet in a café or restaurant, or even if they are coming to my house (and I am not making a souffle).

The reason is simple: the waiting is bonus time. I can’t do anything else but sit and wait, so it is an ideal few minutes to catch up on emails, read a paper or, perhaps best of all, to be in the moment.

Some of the nicest times in life can be the ‘in-between’ times, the transitional period straddling, say, the winding down of one activity and the start of the next. This is when there are no obligations. All

I can’t do anything else but sit and wait. The world slows a little. I can just ‘be’

one can do is just ‘be’. The world slows a little and we can observe it in a way we fail to do when deflected by all the usual strutting and fretting.

I have become so accustomed to waiting for people that I have imposed rules on myself. I keep screen time to a minimum and force myself to take in my surroundings.

These are the times when you overhear funny conversations, look at the way people dress, walk and interact with each other. Odd times, a stranger smiles at you, which bestows a spike of pleasure or starts an unexpected conversation.

I was in a café last week waiting for a friend. She was so late, I was going to walk home, but saw the street had turned into a river. I hesitated by the door. Behind me, a voice said: ‘I shouldn’t if I were you. You’d need a canoe.’

I turned to see a man sitting alone at a table. ‘Want to join me?’ he asked. We had a fascinating conversation about the EU referendum.

My friend soon texted to apologise. She was on her way, but I wasn’t cross. She had unwittingly made my morning.