Geoff Dyer on Punctuality

11.30am, Sunday 30th November 2008
Horse Hospital, 30 Colonnade, London WC1N 

Geoff Dyer was born at 5.34pm on 5 June, 1958. His parents lived in the Cotswold town of Cheltenham. Reliable if unflamboyant people, they instilled in Geoff a great respect for being on time. His Italian publisher, Gianni Borgo was late for everything: late for meetings, always missing deadlines and rarely publishing a book within a year of the advertised date. Then he dropped dead and became, appropriately enough, the late Gianni Borgo. Let that be a lesson to you all.
 
Every bit as unyielding as her husband, Geoff’s wife, Rebecca, stood by his side when he explained to a new Nigerian friend that this friendship could not continue if he did not improve his time-keeping.
 
In his sermon, Geoff will explore the historical sacrifices and successes of punctual people and the trouble caused by low-lifes who waste other people’s time. He will urge us to be less sloppy about time-keeping, a virtue which he sees as increasingly threatened by a culture in which mobile phones have made arrangements increasingly approximate and flexible.