"Sleep is a powerful seducer, hence the terrifying machinery we have developed to fight it. I mean, the alarm clock. Heavens! What evil genius brought together these two enemies of the idle - clocks and alarms - into one unit? Every morning, throughout the Western world, happily dreaming individuals are rudely thrust from sleep by an ear-splitting ringing noise or insistent electronic beeping. The alarm clock is the first stage in the ungodly transformation that we force ourselves to endure in the morning, from blissed-out, carefree dreamer, to anxiety-ridden toiler, weighted by responsibility and duty."
From Tom Hodgkinson's great book, How to be Idle, Chapter One, titled "8 a.m.: Waking up is Hard to do." Hodgkinson is subversively brilliant. As for me, most of those who know me might not agree with my claim to idleness, but those who have lived with me closely know that it is very much a fact. Large bouts of activity, broken up by protracted periods of sloth.
8 comments:
I liked that! Believe it or not, I use my coffee pot as my alarm clock! Really....it is on my bedside table and it is programmed to start perking about 30 minutes before I need to get out of bed. I put a mug there each night and when it's done perking I sit up and have a cup in the quiet morning before all the little men break the silence. :)
Betsy, I've heard of such machinery. My grandma had one that made her tea before she awoke. And she kept a tin of her Rich Tea biscuits there too, on a lower shelf of her bed-side table.
Your morning routine sounds lovely... some good Betsy time.
That last line pretty much describes me to a tee. :)
8am! What about 5 or 6am? The scary thing is that although I have 2 alarm clocks, I'm usually awake minutes prior to the first chime. Guess I could have perpetual snooze mode but as Ben Franklin said, 'early to bed, early to rise...' Still working on the early to bed part.
Dr. M, this is how Tom Hodgkinson starts this first chapter on "How to be Idle":
"I wonder if that hard-working American rationalist and agent of industry Benjamin Franklin knew how much misery he would cause in the world when, back in 1757, high on puritanical zeal, he popularized and promoted the trite and patently untrue aphorism 'early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.'?"
But this is only the opening parry. I urge you all to read Hodgkinson's book for the full argument of the importance of idleness.
I love "Barn in a Soft Light". Off to Wiki Wolf Kahn right now...
I’m tagging you for a Six Word Memoir! Hope you play!
Rules:
1. Write your own six-word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog (and include a visual illustration if you’d like).
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post.
4. Tag five more blogs with links.
5. Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.
www.thecakedcrusader.blogspot.com
Willow - I love his colours and seeming simplicity of form.
Caked Crusader: Argh!!! Oh, okay, shall comply.
I was reminded that I had a fortune cookie once that told me that I combined great energy with indolence. It was completely brilliant!! Hee hee.
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