We're not Scrooges it's just that these
milestone days force people to buy large quantities rubbish which not
long after the event is discarded or finds the back of a closet. Fine
if you can match the timing with something that is needed but usually
we struggle to find anything useful. A lot of our friends acquire
expensive trinkets during the year and when an event day arrives up
goes the ante and a whoppingly expensive toy is purchased. A Kindle
to keep the Ipad company or a Shuffle to keep in the draw with the Nano
which was replaced with the Iphone.
We don't have mobile phones. I've
worked on farm jobs with people who have them and observed the
productivity decline with inane calls received and I've overheard those
idiotic conversations in the supermarket which result from not
keeping a shopping list. We have a friend who continually gets calls
from her spouse “where are you now?”. “About two metres west of
where I was 10 minutes ago”.
In a Mel Gibson movie “We were
Soldiers” the Gunnery sergeant is asked if he need a gun during a
serious confrontation with the opposing side. “When I need a gun I
won't have any trouble finding one” is his response as he goes
about rallying the men and directing the defence. My thoughts about
mobile phones in our daily movements about HHF is “when I need a
mobile phone I won't have any trouble finding one”.. Don't
misunderstand. They are the most marvellous invention used
appropriately in the appropriate situations. Which is not texting at
100 KPH on the freeway.
I do have an MP3 player. It's a cheap
one $30. Slashing paddocks is a boring job and listening to an
educational podcast simultaneously is a very Permaculture rule –
Function Stacking.
Back to the topic of gifts. We
always discuss the value of acquiring an item before we buy just to
make sure it's not a frivolous spur of the moment thing. When the
other agrees it's a wise purchase it always feels like a gift. So our
year is littered with gifts rather than occupying one or two
occasions.
And then there is the topic of
Christmas decorations. The over the top volume of decorations people
buy (and throw away) each year. Those little electric Santas that
wobble about and HO HO HO their way into the rubbish bin. It is like
the government/business cry to grow the economy more each year.
Bigger and more elaborate each time. The previous year's is not good
enough.
I think is rather nice to enact the
childhood by erecting a tree and decorating it. We still use the same
tinsel and baubles that we used 25 years ago. The tree is a suitably
shaped branch from one of our Casuarinas mounted in a bucket of
rocks. After the event it becomes firewood and the decorations are
packed away for next year. Does anyone remember buying crepe paper
cutting it and weaving long chains to hang from the ceiling?
What ever happened to moderation and
the art of spending time making your own decorations. The joy of
simple things.
I really enjoyed this post, I had a giggle at the mobile phone part, I must agree they are so over used but Im guilty of charged { I wish I wasnt} my Dad has a heart condition and we have a agreement we ring each other once in morning and once at night so hence a keep it on me at all times just in case, but it drives me insane with other texts and calls that I could so do without. I remember those paper decorations I loved making those, we made them every year.
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