Four minutes is four minutes too long

I was very lazy and took the bus home today. My work is not a long walk from home, but after a long day it's tempting to just hop on a bus, particularly if it's leaving fairly soon. Today, it was due to leave after four minutes.

I sat down and reached for my phone - there are useless games on my phone which are frankly rubbish but they help pass the time - and I thought: how silly to do something pointless for the sake of killing four minutes. Is a four minute wait really too long? I should value this down-time, when the rest of my day is so rushed.

It's not just me - the lady sitting next to me was trying to find a wifi hotspot, and all around me people were checking phones and emails, reading work-y-looking documents. We're all crazy and we all need to think of a four-minute wait as a pleasure, a chance to stop and do nothing for a few precious minutes - stare out of the window, people-watch, reflect. Mentally compose a blogpost. Unplug, switch off and recharge.

Does anyone have synonyms for those which don't make us sound like laptops or mobile phones? Perhaps even the language we use to describe this busy buzzy life needs to slow down and become more organic.

Even when it has slowed down, Brussels doesn't switch off -

The European Parliament just before dawn