RVnaut said it well. I’d say it this way “what the hell is a Clock?” One of my several careers in my life was tour operator. I owned a bus tour company and had about a dozen employees working for me and I myself did the majority of the touring with groups. It was not unusual for me to be leading a bus tour on an exact schedule six days a week from April through December. I lived by the clock and calendar. Not only were my days filled with scheduled places to be with the group I was conducting, but also I carried the schedules and itineraries of the other groups that I was working with through my Employees. I did so many hundreds of tours of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Amish country that I got to develop an acute sense of how long it takes to get from place to place and mentally kept track of all of the buses being guided by my employees While guiding mine. I had quite a reputation among the restaurants, theaters and vendors for being the guy that was always on time. I carried a notebook with a see-through cover, having my itinerary for the day under that cover, where I could refer to it without opening the book. Inside the book, were the itineraries of all my other employees. I developed an unconscious habit of looking at my watch every few minutes or more I’m not trying to brag but. I developed an unconscious habit of looking at my watch every few minutes or more I’m not trying to brag, but I became very good at timing things. I believed it was absolutely necessary to use an analog watch so that my mind could in one glance keep track of the time I had spent in the past minutes and hours and the time I needed to keep on my groups schedule for the upcoming minutes and hours
since I retired from that, I have learned to ignore time, unless absolutely necessary. It is Wonderful freedom to be rid of that.
And the more I think of it I am not really a van dweller. I sleep in a van and carry in that van with me all the things (Minimals to most Americans) necessary for living. But I really live outdoors, I am an outdoor dweller and my van is a tool to make that happen. Clocks and calendars are necessary in my life especially with all the medical things I’m dealing with doctors visits and therapy, etc.. But they don’t rule my life. There are very few dates end times written down on my calendar. I now have the freedom of not looking at my watch more than once, or twice a day. Basically the sun or at least daylight and darkness have become my watch. When I’m camping in the woods of Perry County Pennsylvania I am aware of the fact that at noon and 6 PM there is a church in a little town of plain that broadcast “bell music“ from its steeple. I don’t rush around conscious at the time so that I can experience that beauty. But in the back of my mind, I know when it’s available and if I’m in that area I’ll drive by but it does not control my life.
I have to be honest about one part of my “schedule“ that does still control me. When I am in that beautiful mountain community of Perry County Pennsylvania, (Tuscarora state Forest) My mind subconsciously keeps track of the days of the week particularly Friday and Saturday because a little Amish lady named Mrs. King has a small bake shop on A rural Road near the forestry office. mrs. king and her girls make some of the best baked goods and other edibles at that place. I can go most of the week without knowing what day it is, but subconsciously I know when Friday and Saturday calm and I know what time is a day to be at the bake shop in order to enjoy a fresh warm doughnut. if watches, clocks and calendars are evil, I consider my Friday Saturday bake shop visit to be a necessary evil
another way I keep track of time subconsciously is the itching on my back as my wings start to grow because I am a snowbird heading south Soon.
thanks for starting this thread because I have used it to revel in the fact that I don’t give a damn about clocks and calendars anymore (as much as possible)
God bless those of us who learn to live by the sunshine and darkness and weather. My wallet controls my schedule more than any watch your calendar. If I had a great deal, more wealth that wouldn’t be true.