Full English breakfast with a chipped mug at CJs with Tom Hodgkinson. Tom was ranting on about How To Be Free, "huh...?", i thought.

Full English breakfast with a chipped mug at CJs with Tom Hodgkinson. Tom was ranting on about How To Be Free, "huh...?", i thought.
Originally uploaded by paintMonkey.

I have been full of cold/stuffed up/headache since saturday morning, drinking lemon tea and eating bags of Haribo, Tunnocks Tea Cakes and Battenburg Cake. I've loved it. Feel sick and fat though. I went and had a sunday breakfast to fill up on some real food. It was the best i've had in there so far. Spent the rest of my time taking and editing photos and pondering a painting.

Bill, the old guy who looks like St Peter, with white beard and hair, a weathered Roman nose and too many dogs at any one time....he lives a few doors down, has lent me the above mentioned book to read. I've not read too much yet but it seems to be full of Anarchic Buddhist philosophical daydreams so far. Interesting stuff, it strikes some familiar and comfortable chords with me....and i'll save judgement until i've finished it, but i kinda feel i've heard it all before. It should be maybe called "Chicken Soup for the Lazy Liberal Anarchist who still has a chip on his shoulder about the introduction of the police force in 1828...".
The chapter titles give a pretty good clue as to what the book is trying to get across;
Chapter 4 is titled " Reject career and All Its Empty Promises"
ha!,
Chapter 7; "Cast off your watch", Chapter 12 "Forget Government", Chapter 22 "Stop Worrying about your Pension and Get a Life", Chapter 24 (my particular favourite) "Self Important Puritans Must Die
and finally chapter 29 ;"Stop working, Start Living".
Bill, the guy who looks like St Peter, was very enthusiastic about the book, which was quite refreshing, he is the same age as my father, who wouldn't have been.
Its a sweet sentiment i suppose, its all very intersting to read about 'the climate of fear and political power abuse', but it's kinda like being preached 'charity' at by a hippy who is sitting comfortably on an inheritance fortune. The sincerity is there, but then you suspect they're just interested (and can afford to) in making the grand gestures in the Sunday broadsheet column their Daddy probably bought them. And similarly that bloke on Channel 4 with the double/tripled barrelled name from the RiverSide Cottage. More power to him n all, he's demonstrating that that way of life is possible... but, i uncomfortably find trustafarian treehuggers a little patronising....hmm.

[rolls eyes at own public school boy hypocracy].

I prefer Douglas Coupland's take on it all, he doesn't try to offer any solutions, just writes a world that is slowly falling in on itself whilst the disposessed generation aimlessly and powerlessly watch on.

The painting remains unfinished. I'll have to ponder further...