Dear Reader

A FEW years ago I invited Carl Honoré, the high priest of the Slow movement, for a cup of tea. His book, In Praise Of Slow, had just been translated into 35 languages and he was busy overseeing the Slow Planet website.

‘ Speed has become an addiction; a kind of idolatry,’ he said. Which made a lot of sense, and for at least five minutes I was determined to heed his advice and slam on the brakes.

Carl used to see an empty space in his diary and panic. Now he deliberately keeps whole weeks free apart from urgent work commitments.

‘That’s a terrifying thing to do because you think you’re missing out but, in fact, the door doesn’t close when you say no. It opens wider,’ he told me.

All therapeutic stuff. Carl got back in touch last week and sent along a copy of his new book, It’s The Journey Not The Destination, which ostensibly is aimed at children (the illustrations are wonderful) but its message is clearly for grown-ups.

‘Travelling slowly turns any journey into a balm for the soul and a banquet for the senses,’ he writes. That might not quite wash when you’re crawling along the A303 on a bank holiday, but you get the point.

It’s a refreshing juxtaposition to what Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, said about how we have moved from a world in which the big fish eat the small fish to one in which ‘the fast eat the slow’.

Taking it slow on holiday can also be scary. Having too much time to think can be just as vexing as having too little, but on Page 57, he makes the case for the slow lane. It’s more a state of mind than anything else.

Carl is from Canada (British Columbia pictured) and plays ice hockey, which is meant to be one of the world’s fastest games. So he’s no slouch. Indeed, I find it reassuring that he was given a speeding ticket while researching In Praise of Slow.