40 Days

40 days is a long time, isn't it? Well that's how long I've got until my first A Level maths exam. After a year of fast paced study and decent test results, I hope I'm prepared because at this point, there's no turning back. All this for some UCAS points and the hope my grade isn't just a letter.

40 days is a long time, isn't it? According to the Bible, Jesus spent forty days in the desert, and it got to the point he resisted being tempted by the devil, which I think is quite impressive. The early Church agreed with this, and that's why Lent, which remembers Jesus's time in the desert, lasts forty days too. It also happens to line up with the time taken for Moses to lead the Israelites to Canaan. And that's not even mentioning the countless other times forty comes up in the Bible, let alone many other religions, ranging from Islam to Hinduism and beyond. Some say that forty days is just another way of saying "a long time". Funny, then, that forty winks is much shorter in length.

40 Days is a great song by shoegaze band Slowdive, isn't it? The dreamlike guitar blends perfectly with some beautiful static, all whilst Neil Halstead sings about his longing for fellow band member Rachel Goswell, who he had broken up with. It's only better when Goswell herself joins him on vocals, all after a brilliant guitar solo. Add in some on point drumming and a stunning outro, and you have another great song on a great album, Souvlaki. Why it's called 40 Days I'm not sure, but in this case, it's surely not a long time, because three minutes is not enough for this track.

40 days is a long time, isn't it? But it's not that much in retrospect. The year has nine forty day periods, and as today is day 115, we've nearly finished a third period. It's easy to think about how the year has gone so quickly come December 31st, but when you consider there have already been three forty day periods, time doesn't seem so quick any more. Or maybe it just comes off as misleading.

40 days is a long time, isn't it? In that time, you're guaranteed at least one full moon, in fact the moon will have already completed nearly one and a half orbits around the Earth. On the other hand, Mercury isn't even halfway through one orbit of the Sun in that time. So it's only sometimes long, maybe.

40 days is a long time, isn't it? At least that's what I tell myself today, not realising it will soon not be forty days to that first exam soon - and I'd rather get some revision done in that time instead. Not to complain, but in the first forty days of the school year, we had already finished differentiation, and were soon to tackle integration. As Neil Halstead sang, "It's the summer I'm thinking of,"...and that's just forty days too.

Oh well, back to revision then, when I've stopped procrastinating.