More people than ever before now spend most of their spare time 'passing time'.
In a recent European survey of several thousand people (who were just hanging about), over 90% of them said their main pastime was passing the time.
"A few years ago I was real busy," said 67-year-old Ivor Lottovit. "But now I'm really into this 'passing the time' lark. I wish they'd invented it before."
Yorkshireman Fred Bear remarked how cheap it was. "It costs me nowt when I'm just passing the time. Not like at the bus station. It costs me 20p to pass water there. 20p just for a pee. It's daylight bladdery."
Noreen Wingle used to lie in bed every morning thinking 'what shall I do today?' "But now I'm up early. I just can't wait to start passing the time."
Even the researchers later admitted that they carried out the survey "just to pass the time."
Space and time expert Professor Brian Rox says this research raises other key questions, such as 'why are you reading this?' and 'why are we all here?'
