Time Is Temporary

And never is it more easily unsettled
than in the media schedules we follow,
where as long as the schedules remain fixed;
as long one programme follows another
in the right order as printed in the magazines
that list everything, then listeners and viewers
know where they are. The print represents reality.

But when a broadcaster decides that radio
and television should be a multiple movable feast,
a smorgasbord of programming where any programme
can be available at any time, when it is first broadcast,
in the week, no longer matters then also the order
of the listener's life no longer matters either.

Trying to listen to new editions of the programme
when it used to be broadcast, or according to when
the listener regularly likes to listen is one answer.
But what to do when the programme, or presenter,
is 'retired' and strangers take over your listening experience?

Then you are the stranger, to yourself and the past
which is no longer sustained, or sustainable.
Time has become truly flexible and temporary.