Of Summer Storms and Surprised Neighbours

The post WWII generation had many years to think about the best way to make do, be creative with what you had, and live in a way that today would seem very frugal indeed.

It is with this in mind that I got to thinking about the ridiculous way we live in the 21^st century. Ridiculous for so many obvious reasons that unfortunately are seen by many now as a right and a necessity, but are no more than fillers for the blanks left behind when technology speeds up your day so much there are too many hours left over and not enough meaningful stuff to do.

Study after study, research paper after research paper (it really is a wonder the funding keeps going) show that the more meaningful stuff in our lives comes from doing things with real people, family, friends, getting outside, being active. Not more screen time, but more real time.

Fast food combines with fast communications and short attention spans, leading you on a merry dance so all consuming you don’t even realise you are wasting the one shot you have to actually do something worthwhile, to connect with friends and family, to appreciate the natural world, to pat your dog.

Take my kids as an example – they really know how to live. Who else would strip naked and run outside during every subtropical storm we get during the wet season here in Queensland yelling out ‘rain shower!!’ at the top of their lungs? Now that, Barry, is living….

So turn off the TV, break out a board game and invite the dog in for a pat.

Make sure you have three different coloured veggies on your dinner plate that you cooked yourself, drink a mug of black tea, cut your own fries and reuse your leftovers.

Find a recipe for ‘bubble and squeak’, walk to the shop, listen to the radio while you tinker around outside, get some chooks and grow some herbs, the list of things to do that involve real life really is endless.

But above all, if nothing else, remember this – “Rain Shower!!”