The word ‘generation’ is anchored within the notion of time. The idea of generation exists within our understanding of the temporal dimension. In the last chapter we saw the historical context of the postwar generation's youth. Generation and history are but two aspects of a vast network of notions of time that are embedded within our world. On the surface, time appears to be straightforward. We count the number of years we’ve been alive annually; the alarm clock goes off and we know a new day starts, the weather is warmer and a new spring season has announced itself, and our stomachs grumble and we know it is lunchtime. We use duration or longevity, diurnal time, clock time, and seasonal time to measure and to inform ourselves about our world. This chapter examines ideas about time and expands upon the ways we consider or define time to include more complexity than the everyday use of time. After all, if ageing is about anything, it is about the movement of time in our lives, both from the perspective of our bodies and the world we live in.

For most of us, time is a distant concept. Yes, we are caught in the schedules imposed by industrial time. We wear watches, make appointments, notice it is getting dark or feel relieved on a weekend day away from the responsibilities of work, but time seems to just be. Yet, time talk is ingrained in our everyday thought and speech. One of my interviewees, John, made a statement containing a number of references to time:

Several aspects of temporality – generation, hindsight, period and era, childhood, and development – are referenced in this quote.