Word: siesta
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...modern Rip Van Winkle, emerging from a 20-year siesta in Sleepy Hollow, would probably vote for Nixon in September because it would be the only name on the ballot he would recognize. Moreover, he would not only recognize the name but also the style, for as Nixon himself notes, his style has not been adapted to keep pace with the times...
...tips in the art of gracefully demolishing a bull. Now it is pottery time, and 83 ceramic owls later, Picasso summons his chauffeur and picks up three virgins on the beach. They are deflowered during the siesta, and retire, twittering gratefully, to write their memoirs. Refreshed, the Maestro fills in the yawning hours before dinner with a dozen portraits. The omelette palpitates under his fork, unable to believe its luck. It, too, will be converted into a Picasso. A green, nocturnal silence reigns in the garden, broken only by the muffled clamor of Greek shipping millionaires stuffing $1,000 bills...
...however, that the concept of time is moving, albeit slowly, toward something like a global standard. In the supposedly languid Orient, industrial Japan adheres to a Germanic punctuality, while mainland China moves at a much brisker pace than it did before the Communist revolution. In Latin countries, even the siesta may one day yield to technological advance and a yearning for managerial efficiency. IBM, alas, has yet to invent a computer that grows drowsy after a heavy, wine-laden lunch-or unplugs itself for a 4 o'clock dalliance and an exchange of punch cards with a Univac down...
...devoted to business. While light courses of pasta, meat or fish, salad and fruit are served, Paul keeps up a lively chatter with his table companions, often including Papal Secretary of State Jean Cardinal Villot, who has a permanent apartment at the summer villa. After a 1½-hour siesta, there is more work: reading (and often writing marginalia in) the Vatican daily, L'Osservatore Romano, and planning or writing important documents. Like his predecessors, Paul works long hours. An hour or so for prayer in the evening, some minutes of symphonic music, a private walk in the garden...
...sake of efficiency, U.S. citizens have long been willing to give up many of the amenities of life that are common in less complex and slower-paced societies: clean cities, open space, the chance for an afternoon siesta. Until recently, most felt satisfied with the bargain. But now that the U.S. industrial and social system is delivering such "disproducts" as pollution and racial tension and no longer seems to be supplying the compensating efficiency, many Americans feel they have