The wheel of hours

YOU ARE INSIDE THE DOME of a day. Amble around the ambulatory of this medieval chapter house, going slowly to take in the changing view. Walk so slowly that you only move to a new window once every hour, and the cycle of day and night will pass outside as you perambulate inside.

This is the wheel of hours in which we live out our lives. Sunrise after sunset after sunrise, we turn in this ornamental treadmill, around and around and around. There is no escape, we cannot step down from this wheel, we cannot move other than into the next window along, so we might as well enjoy the view, drink in the scenery of each passing hour to the full.