Don't just sit there

Posted by Dave Walker


I am not a massive fan of Giles Coren of The Times, but just occasionally he writes something with a ring to it. November 24th to be precise.

Giles suggests adults should follow the initiative of some primary schools who have compiled a list of stuff their kids must do in addition to the 3Rs - like climbing a tree, sleeping under canvas and tilling a veg patch. His adult list includes: drive somewhere using a map, buy a book from a bookshop, try to remember something using only your memory, make plans for the weekend without checking a weather app, reverse into a parking space using only your eyes/neck/hopefully hands, pay cash for something, drink a pint of beer that doesn't smell of flowers.

The gist is there - it's not our natural state to rely on gadgets, which begs the question what is our natural state. Anyway just go along with the idea that everything was good before computers, satnavs and mobile phones. Never mind how old you are, get off your arse and do something.

An earlier Times piece suggested we shouldn't worry too much about forgetting things. My satnav lady is very temperamental and a tad unreliable and so is my map reading. So I do get lost quite a bit. The weather forecast on the BBC is incomprehensible - when was rain or snow or low? yesterday, tomorrow or the weekend? I wait and make my own assessment on the day and do what I was going to do anyway. Sadly I don't carry cash and am I missing out on a car-reversing doofer? And bookshops, first and secondhand (and libraries) are great, especially the 3 for 2's which are presumably how best-selling authors are best-selling.

I like beer that smells of flowers, particularly Ossett Blonde of Wakefield.

So a mixed reception, but I go along with most of it. Except 'Read and article in an actual newspaper and when you have finished, sit quietly, and decide what you think about it, even form a judgement ... AND THEN KEEP IT TO YOURSELF'.

What would us bloggers write about without these curation opportunities?

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