Time out
Am I living the dream? ...........not quite yet..........
I'm in a sort of limbo at the moment - I've finished work and don't really have much to occupy my time - I'm caught in the in-between times. Which sounds great and was a constant daydream whilst sat at my desk working away, but the reality is it can be boring not having anything pressing to do. This isn't a moan its a readjustment - I need to re-wild myself and get back to the simple ways of slow living.
When we had a house and garden there was always a job that needed to be done, be it the daily chores, the endless DIY projects or gardening tasks - not to mention the full time job. I also had favourite places to go to sit, read and write with my books and 'stuff' all around me - now everything is in a shipping container. Today my house is the camper and my daily housework chores take about 10 minutes, so with Andrew working at the table in the van the main part of the day - doing university work (as well as taking up most of what little living space we have), I have loads of time to use up.
At first it was a bit like being on holiday, then I became a bit stir crazy - we weren't doing what we do whilst away and I can only walk around our plot for so long, but now I have started to learn to relax, to find things to fill my time and find new favourite places to sit, read and write............
So here are a few of my current obsessions I'm using to fill my time................
Apart from my writing for Sjör, I am starting to write a simple personal journal - just recording thoughts, things, notes and new stuff - I'm no Michael Palin but it's a great discipline to get into and I'm enjoying it.
It's also good to use the old pen and paper!
It's incredibly silent here, it allows you to think and just be - but when it's a bit cold or damp and I need to shelter in the van, I've taken to listen to audio books or some new music - I've joined a number of libraries online and now have access to loads of audiobooks for free and there are always podcasts.
The BBC has a great back catalogue especially 'In our time' so there is usually something to catch my interest. I'm currently working my way through Lindsey Davis Falco series just to indulge my obsession with Ancient Rome, along with that I'm also listening to Outlander - because well I'm living in Scotland now (although they appear to be spend most of the time in 18C France)
If i'm going to listen to music VÖK or KALEO are my go to bands - their music suits this landscape - google them - awesome stuff! And of course some Ben Howard!
As well as listening to books I'm now reading more but I'm sourcing the new genre in magazine publications at the moment - long reads like Ernest, The Rolling Home, Enki and Another Escape (which I read online - the previous 3 I buy as hard copies) I love to support independent publishers and find in them the uniqueness I crave in journalism - many
modern magazines follow the same format and I find generally repeat each other so I try to avoid these. However, I have become slightly addicted to home/house build magazines for obvious reason (I use my amazon prime and kindle unlimited subscription to read them free online)
If I'm still looking for something to do then obviously I have my camera - I now have loads of images to sort and adjust when I can get my big screen set up again (If you can't wait until then check out my portfolio at the top of the screen)
And finally if I just want to veg out and watch something - other than binging on Schitt's Creek - I'm watching Banff films - check them out some of the short films are excellent.
So that's what I'm doing with my time before the build/container fit out begins in ernest- I'm trying to come up with a name for it - this pre-build period, this calm-before-the-storm. I bet one of the Scandinavian countries has a word for it .................. I will google ............. I couldn't find anything quickly but I did find this - 'Sisu' in Finnish means strength, perseverance in a task that for some may seem crazy to undertake, almost hopeless' - which seemed very apt for what we are doing at the moment!
Bye for now
Liz