miss the boat (or bus) be too slow to take advantage of an opportunity. informal
1987Kathy LetteGirls' Night Out He'll never get divorced and marry her. She'll miss the boat.
1940Neville ChamberlainSpeech at Central Hall, Westminster Whatever may be the reason-whether it was that Hitler thought he might get away with what he had got without fighting for it, or whether it was that after all the preparations were not sufficiently complete-however, one thing is certain-he missed the bus.