I miss having a playground that is clean and functional. I miss my gym in Alice Springs. I miss the possibility of going to the movies. I miss going to festivals and events. I miss catching up with good friends for Sunday brunch. I miss the library. I miss catching up with friends in person.There are a few things I miss. But mostly I can do without, quite happily, with most of the things I used to do. Going out for coffee, wandering through the shops, seeing too many movies.
What I like about my current life is that it's pared back to essentials. A simple life is really the life I choose. When I'm too close to the centre of town, or right in the heart of the city, invisible tentacles of consumerism slowly creep and enclose.
I think I have learned that I need to live just a little out of town, to make all the things that I do miss possible. The trick is leaving far enough away to avoid falling into the excesses of our culture. A little house, a little way away, with enough open space and nice flat bitumen road to town.
I'm not quite there yet, for I don't miss all those things enough at this point. But the day is approaching, and no doubt will be here quicker than I expect.
3 comments:
I hear you and have a suggestion for you, Soph! Temple Bar - best of both worlds - cheap real estate and just far enough out of town that, like yesterday, when I realised I had forgotten to purchase my much-looked-forward-to Saturday papers, is just far enough out that you are not tempted to back track for the forgotten items. You just make do or go without until the next trip in to town. My thoughts 'a 30km round trip for a newspaper?' NAH!
Oh, and as a PS, you wouldn't miss the hour-long wait at Oscar's for coffee this morning. Since reopening , the food is awesome, but the service is appalling (and I told them so this morning). This is what I miss - those old days of Sundays at Oscars with you, Fred and Eleanor. xo
Temple Bar, perfect! although I'm thinking I need to put down some more permanent roots and the land tenure at TB would unsettle me. I must own a small patch of land (that's me showing off my cultural heritage). Sigh, Oscars. I should have added, "I miss Julie" to my list!
I reckon we could all learn a thing or two about 'ownership' from the oldest living culture on earth. The western concept of ownership is a construct of our materialist, accumulation-driven culture. After all, what do we ever truly 'own'? Except our thoughts, feelings, beiefs and behaviours.
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