Idleness

Dd has one of her fairly regular bouts of tonsillitis. Though gradually - hopefully! - decreasing in frequency, every few months they leave her well enough to potter about at home but too croaky and headache-y to venture out too far. Sometimes I think they represent her body putting some brakes on too much activity and, if so, it sure works. We've spent the last few days virtually glued to the sofa, just enjoying companionable quiet. She might be online, playing WOW or reading TV Tropes, or we'll watch a comedy show together. We've played a couple of games of chess (slightly bad-tempered on her part because she normally beats me easily when she's not so groggy). Not much talking because resting her voice helps. And I've pottered around the house, catching up on washing, baking bread, and taking it pretty easy myself.

Which is great, because the book I have on the go at present is by the editor of The Idler. Tom Hodgkinson's How to Be Free is a gentle anarchist polemic calling on its readers to reject the trappings of the career treadmill and modern consumer society and instead learn to live cheaply, locally and with a renewed joy in simple pleasures such as being with friends and family. It's certainly not perfect. For instance, its viewpoint is very much that of a male journalist who can easily freelance, it's a bit too reactionarily anti-TV and his portrayal of medieval society is a tad naive, verging on the rose-tinted. He also seems to think that the Diggers were protesting against Tudor norms, which would be a Civil War and around 50 years off the mark. But the general drift is still inspiring. It's made me appreciate all the more the down-time at home. And it's set me determined to get out into the garden at the first opportunity and to grow some more of our own food. The question is, will dd come along and help to dig? Jury is firmly out on that one ...