It's heart-warming to remember that I grew up in the land of tea-times and time lords, Big Ben, hot-cross-buns and Queen Elizabeth II. In that kinder, culturally richer world I knew a lovely English gentleman who, always anxious to be punctual, would spur people on by politely saying, "Time and tide, time and tide". This is an abstract of the pithy proverb, "Time and tide wait for no man", which apparently pre-dates not only Shakespeare but the modern English language.