This is a world where things move at their own pace, including a tiny lift Fortey and I shared with a scholarly looking elderly man with whom Fortey chatted genially and familiarly as we proceeded upwards at about the rate that sediments are laid down. When the man departed, Fortey said to me: "That was a very nice chap named Norman who's spent forty-two years studying one species of plant, St. John's wort. He retired in 1989, but he still comes in every week."" How do you spend forty-two years on one species of plant?" I asked." It's remarkable, isn't it?" Fortey agreed. He thought for a moment. "He's very thorough apparently." The lift door opened to reveal a bricked over opening. Fortey looked confounded. "That's very strange, " he said. "That used to be Botany back there." He punched a button for another floor, and we found our way at length to Botany by means of back staircases and discreet trespass through yet more departments where investigators toiled lovingly over once-living objects. Bill Bryson
About This Quote

This is a world where things move at their own pace, including a tiny lift and we shared with a scholarly looking elderly man with whom we chatted genially and familiarly as we proceeded upwards at about the rate that sediments are laid down. When the man departed, we said to each other: "That was a very nice chap named Norman who's spent forty-two years studying one species of plant, St. John's wort. He retired in 1989, but he still comes in every week." This one was quite hard for me to figure out, but it might come from the idea of something like: 'What if everything didn't move around you at its own pace? What if everything moved around you?'

Source: A Short History Of Nearly Everything

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