Every Monday I wind the pendulum clock in the lounge. Perhaps my husband’s grandmother used to do the same thing – six turns of the key.  Often our lives continue like this – regular, filled with casual rituals, and a mundane safety.

In an instant the world tilts on its axis and we are woken from the illusion of quiet continuity. Just a phone call, a simple message, and we remember how fragile things are.  That we are in fact hurtling through the universe at 2.1 million kilometres an hour.  How did we ever imagine that things might stay the same?  Even when we are doing nothing, our lives are flying along at breakneck speed.