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I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

theguardian.com

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Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#351

Post by jkepler »

lelanthran wrote: post #348
renewiltord wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These threads are always so entertaining. Someone will make up this pastoral romance while implying that the city life is somehow lacking. Then someone will do the opposite and the wars will begin. Very entertaining. For my part, I enjoy modal editors so I think vim is better than emacs and I like the GPL over BSD.

> For my part, I enjoy modal editors so I think vim is better than emacs and I like the GPL over BSD. We need more fuel on this fire. What's your take on spaces vs tabs?

That farmer is happy keeping tabs on his space. He enjoys his work, his place, and doesn't much mind (it seems) what others think of him.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#353

Post by StanislavPetrov »

chubbyish wrote: post #297
brokencode wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think eating the same thing every day is fine, though you need to make sure to have a balanced diet with good nutrition. The author mentioned his uncle who just ate bread, butter, and cheese for every meal, and I’m not sure how you can even survive off of that. Surely it’s lacking something important with no fruit or vegetables. I’ve heard that humans had a long period of time after we became sedentary and started…

How is the author overweight eating what he eats, and walking around outside. That makes no sense.

He says he has biscuits at the end of every meal - he doesn't say how many!

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#355

Post by CognitiveLens »

makach wrote: post #347
indy wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many paths to happiness, no need to denigrate this man's life.

I don't think he was doing that. It's just a perspective. It is when I read these stories that I truly consider how short our lives are. I can't stop thinking about how fragile our beliefs are once we hold them up against someone elses values, earthshaking.

The grandparent post compared the farmer's experience to being lobotomized - if that's not denigration of someone's life, what is?

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#356

Post by notjes »

telesilla wrote: post #266

"This valley is cut in the shape of my heart". I've known farmers like him, bachelors who are mild mannered and love their lives and the extended family that comes with living an entire life in one valley. He maybe goes to Sunday service for socialization and the local pub to watch the game, and as long as his sheep are healthy and the sky does what it promises (because he knows the day before always if it will rain)…

This man is independent. The powers that are, hiss in horror at his sighting, because they want him in a cubicle and in debt.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#357

Post by mrphoebs »

usgroup wrote: post #286
telesilla wrote: post #266

"This valley is cut in the shape of my heart". I've known farmers like him, bachelors who are mild mannered and love their lives and the extended family that comes with living an entire life in one valley. He maybe goes to Sunday service for socialization and the local pub to watch the game, and as long as his sheep are healthy and the sky does what it promises (because he knows the day before always if it will rain)…

I appreciate the romance, but those of us who have children leave behind much more than stone walls we built in our 20s. He’s a 72 year old Batchelor who’s once stepped foot outside a Welsh valley. If happiness is a lobotomy then credit to us who don’t choose it.

Children as your legacy are no less consequential or meaningful than this man's stone walls. In the end you are grasping for empty meaning and purpose in the same way the farmer is, your children will perish, their children will perish, you will be forgotten and so will they like the rest of human existence. Our lives have no larger purpose or meaning beyond what ever we pretend gives meaning to your life, like children or stone walls.

We are mere Spatiotemporal blips of information in the infant universe with delusions of grandeur. So if you have to tell yourself deep in the night that you actualising your reproductive prerogative makes your sad little life more meaningful than the farmer, please grasp at those straws.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#358

Post by 74d-fe6-2c6 »

usgroup wrote: post #286
telesilla wrote: post #266

"This valley is cut in the shape of my heart". I've known farmers like him, bachelors who are mild mannered and love their lives and the extended family that comes with living an entire life in one valley. He maybe goes to Sunday service for socialization and the local pub to watch the game, and as long as his sheep are healthy and the sky does what it promises (because he knows the day before always if it will rain)…

I appreciate the romance, but those of us who have children leave behind much more than stone walls we built in our 20s. He’s a 72 year old Batchelor who’s once stepped foot outside a Welsh valley. If happiness is a lobotomy then credit to us who don’t choose it.

What an arrogant opinion. You're unduly proud of being a parent. There is no inherent value to it at all. You force beings into this world and believe this is a feat? Ridiculous.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#359

Post by berkes »

FractalParadigm wrote: post #65
montenegrohugo wrote: post #7

There is value in finding your place in life and being content with it. Yes, you might be able to change it, perhaps to conform to more traditional standards of 'success', but why bother if you're happy as you are? If we humans optimize by happiness, then we should have nothing but envy for a life like Wilf Davies leads.

I came to this realization in university - I love software, I love writing programs and solving problems, but I really don't love office work or the idea of sitting at a desk all day. I dropped out of a software engineering program to work on a factory floor, a decision I haven't regret once in five years (even if my parents would consider me a failure). The hours are good, the wage is good, benefits are good, I get…

A friend of my parents was a professor, lecturer and author in biology. One day, he was fed up and became a Tram Driver.

I'll never forget how he explained the bliss of coming home, dropping your company-bag in the hallway only to pick it up next day before going to work. How he never had to read up on recent insights in the field of driving a tram on weekends. How he was finding joy in reading biology-books in the evenings, free of any pressure, again.

(If this sounds denigrating to a tram driver, it is not meant as such, at all)

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