From 1957 to 1959 he did his national service, which he had delayed until he had passed the exams to obtain membership of the Royal College of Physicians and could enter in a specialist medical grade.
But they performed the ritual cleansings and the sacrifices as required, and when she suggested that he go and see the Okonkwo family about their daughter he delayed and delayed until another sharp pain spliced her back, and, months later, she was lying on a pile of freshly washed banana leaves behind her hut, straining and pushing until the baby slipped out.
But he warned he would act on his own to reduce deportations and improve border security - action he had delayed until after the election, to the fury of some Latino voters.
The owners and the players had hoped to learn tomorrow what the arbitrator, Shyam Das, thought of the contraction plan, but he has delayed until Aug. 1 his ruling on the union's challenge to the plan.
This enabled him to get into position quickly gave him extra time to play shots, which he often delayed until the ball was very close to him.
He delayed sentencing until Sept. 22.
He delayed them until 2010, claiming that the country was too instable for an election campaign.
Even feeling that marriage might prove a hindrance, he delayed marrying until the age of 43.
On the outbreak of the second world war, he delayed volunteering until he was due to be called up anyway, in late 1940.
(So austere, in fact, that he delayed it until after the Andalusia election, hoping in vain to win a region held by the Socialists for three decades).Mr Rajoy has little choice but to get nasty.
