The Lure Of Labour.

One of life's little pleasures.

Village life holds many forms of relaxation. Either by participating in it yourself or by proxy. Is there anything more relaxing than watching someone else do work? Living in a village affords one the pleasure of talking with people, be they arbitrary, friends or family. In fact, not talking to people is a form of bad manners. Whereas in a big city one would be taken for a weirdo, here in our small village it is part of the village rule book. Taking an interest in others and what they are up to, and if one does have to share tidbits than hopefully correctly!

Nothing stays a secret and even the most banal stuff becomes public knowledge. Take this afternoon for example; I was helping my parents put a new coat of paint on their veranda ( a most punishing design when it comes to painting it ) and as it was a sunny afternoon, many villagers were out and about. A few stopped to shoot the breeze while at the same time relaxing along with the movement of our paintbrushes.

There is something special about watching others do mundane work. Be it the momentary joy of knowing one isn't doing the work oneself or the hypnotic repetition of seeing paint being applied which might be a little bit more fun than watching it dry!

Personally, I think that doing odd jobs outside the house makes one more approachable, more down to earth and it forms a nice conversation opener. How could it not? There aren't many occasions that we have the time to sit still and just be or rather just paint and how nice to have an occasional audience to exchange pleasantries with.

Biggi