time on one's hands

It has nothing to do with being idle, or having time on one's hands, although it does involve a certain sense of free space about one, as we shall see anon.

I am afraid that it is rather short, but one has very little time on one's hands in the trenches, I find.

The advantage of having plenty of time on one's hands is that one has leisure to attend to the affairs of all one's circle of friends; and Archie, assiduously as he watched over the destinies of the Sausage Chappie, did not neglect the romantic needs of his brother-in-law Bill.