This is where all the bits that didn’t fit in anywhere else ended up.  Beginning with a list of the kind of things that make my kind of simple life just perfect…

Films…

I adore the cinema, always have, and with equal fervour abhor television (haven’t had a set for 30 years, nor radio, or newspapers).  My forever number one classic being TRULY MADLY DEEPLY (1990, directed by Anthony Minghella).  The rest are newish, along with a few older classics mixed in, click here to download my current film list.

I have also started a list of the films I’d like to see, just in case anyone out there has a copy they could send/ lend, click here to download.

Books…

Click here to download my current book list.

Music…

I don’t have a favourite genre, liking virtually anything (except flamenco/ fandango), as long as it’s been recorded with care, and performed with soul/ integrity.  Click here to download my current music list/

Other things I like…

food – am always hungry and will eat virtually anything.  Especially like curries & spicy food – as well as black pudding & chorizo/ toast & sobrasada/ pastries & cakes/ chocolate/ desserts (the true measure of any great meal)/ plus all the usual suspects like: twiglets/ crème eggs/ chocolate hobnobs/ speciality flavoured crisps…         

the smell of wooden cabins         hot chocolate at RIVER CITY CAFÉ (Powell River, British Columbia) accompanied by their three-berry slice         portuguese pastel de nata cakes         good neighbours         the smell of freshly caught fish (especially Newlyn, Cornwall)         people who are original in thought and deed         Penzance/ Covent Garden/ Camden Town/ & Paris in the 1970s         bicycle trailers         bright vibrant colours         cats         gardening         handmade by me or others         things to work properly         meals out with other people         bargains and second-hand         repairing broken or discard items spring-time          real espresso coffee without sugar/ milk         graphic design         interior design magazines         making books         learning spanish        living abroad         walking home in the dark through the forest         living well away from other people         learn how to take honey from my bees         teaching english to adults         photography/ making films         writing with a fountain pen         having lots of coloured pencils/ wax crayons/ pens to draw with         alternative living magazines         incense         hats         cycling instead of walking         using natural materials         writing and receiving letters         original designed fabric         thick wool jumpers         corduroy shirts/ trousers         to one day own a genuine harris tweed jacket         ancient south american design         the street markets and hardware shops of Northern Portugal         flannel sheets         second-hand bookshops and record shops         eating in season         beachcombing         real French croissants         thrift stores         wearing socks in bed         being around older people         vintage motorcycles         pedro jiminez sweet wine/ mead/ & homemade aguardiente (coffee flavour)         vinyl LPs         handmade socks & fingerless gloves         tartan scarves         the sound the frogs make in the grey-water pond         making xmas cards & presents for friends         having odd bits of crockery         illustrated children’s books         Amsterdam         Feria district in Sevilla         Main Street Vancouver         real cream ice-cream made with cream         the smell of lime flowers and orange blossom         learn how to snowboard         fresh figs         working in the garden before the sun rises          people with a passion         giving back and foot massage

Dislikes…

sundays       living alone         microwave ovens         Eckhart Tolle/ Michael Reynolds/ Bill Mollinson & all the other self-appointed gurus/ experts in dodgy alternative ideas and getting rich off it       GPs         swimming         being cold         the radio         reliance on cars         towns and cities         bullfighting         SEPRONA         smoking         drugs         same-sex bar culture         strong artificial smells like washing detergent/ shower gel/ perfume         dog shit         how horribly thin I have got since Maureen died         holidays/ travel, except to visit friends         driving         cooking         religion         politics         wasting money or time         people who say what they think you want to hear         sport         tv         newspapers         crowds         complementary medicine         the national health service         “fashion” or “followers”         walking/ hiking         ex-pats         anyone in “authority”/ bureaucracy         swimming pools         supermarkets & processed food         wild boar & deer         children         feeling sad         dust & dusting         late nights         make-up & hair products         getting up in the morning         mobile phones         earning money         being trapped indoors         IKEA         painted finger or toe nails        hairdressers         heels on shoes/ boots         worrying about money         working with cement         dishwashers         microwaves         poetry         flamenco & fandango         watches         piercings & tattoos         architects         nationalism         cafetiere coffee         british tea         sports/ lounge wear         cds         pastel colours         charities         royalty         the infernal combustion engine         shopping centres

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Everyone’s path will be different, that’s something to celebrate.

The most important thing is to keep nature at the centre,

and after that everything else will fall into place.

Have a little faith in destiny too.

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© 2009-2022 Phil Rooksby, Maureen Rooksby & Pauline Dean

the moral right of the authors has been asserted

no part may be copied, by any means, without consent

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acknowledgements…

I usually hate anything like this, sycophantic chest puffing.  But in this case there is an exception.  Because no amount of praise would ever be enough to make up for what our greatest influence/ source of inspiration/ and long-time friend, has done for us over the so many years we have known each other.  Shirley-Anne Hardy.  Tireless campaigner/ writer/ publisher/ champion for everyone to be able to live a simpler and more sustainable life.  I heartily recommend her book BIRTHRIGHT IN LAND, BY WILLIAM OGILVIE…AND THE STATE OF SCOTLAND TODAY (see the books on alternative living page), followed by the sequel, published in 2011, STOLEN LAND – STOLEN LIVES, AND THE GREAT CON TRICK OF DEBT!  Both a guaranteed riveting read and invaluable reference.

the epilogue…

Where I aim to tie up what all the previous pages have merely begun to introduce.  Beginning with the question of the moment:

“why is it most people do not feel the slightest responsibility for the imminent extinction of our species, even when it’s their lives which are going to be cut short so tragically?”

I believe the answer is we’ve lost that all-essential connection with who we are, with Nature.  Something every other creature knows instinctively, written in their DNA.  Their lives therefore are full of clarity.  They know where they come from, and what it is they are meant to do.  Right from the moment of birth.  While we exist in a fog of confusion and dissatisfaction.  This is because at some point in the not so distant past, some bright soul discovered that he (yes, women are blameless) could have a much easier time if he got everyone else to do his bidding.  Getting away with it by pretending he knew something they didn’t.  Ever since then he, and his successors, have continued to fool the masses whilst enjoying a life of immense privilege and wealth at our expense.

How do I know this?  Because somehow I’m immune to their scam, I am un-conventional.  Wayward from birth.  Refusing to accept the regime of education.  Employee from hell.  Spending the rest of my life trying to live sustainably, outside the system, while everyone else might as well be from another planet. 

I haven’t always been aware of this.  It only really became clear when we decided to get rid of the television (and stop buying newspapers).  Suddenly I could see the hidden agenda.  How the media, and those behind it, were controlling everything, including the way we think and live.  Ruling by fear, in order to make us work and spend unquestioningly, feeding their limitless appetite for power and wealth. 

Interestingly, this change can even be traced archaeologically.  Ever since we started being ruled over (about 10,000 years ago), the physical size of our brains has been diminishing.  The rate speeding up with the invention of ways to make life easier.  Meanwhile, no other species has been affected in this way, felt it necessary to change their existence as we have.

No other species has our insatiable need to over-populate and consume the planet’s natural resources.

No other species has chosen to swap its precious senses to use instead a totally artificial one like language.  Substituting a natural inherited connection to all other living things, with words.  Not even the same ones, but thousands of different languages, each totally incomprehensible, each taking a lifetime to acquire.  All woefully inadequate at expressing anything but the most basic instructions. 

Even more bizarre is why we even need to know all the stuff that language creates, that apparently make us more superior among other species.  Stuff like what happened in the past/ might happen in the future/ symmetry/ how to measure/ quality/ direction/ orientation/ weight/ height/ temperature/ colour/ stages/ proportion/ models/ profitability/ worth/ or gods?  Surely even the most simple soul can see how pointless it is to even begin trying to make sense of the world.  Which is so patently more complex than even the most intelligent could understand.  It’s like obesity, or the internet.  We waste our precious lives stuffing ourselves, and instead of improvement it’s slowing us down, both physically and mentally, even killing us.  Look around.  Are there any other species with the slightest interest in all this crap?  No.  Yet they’ve been here just as long as us, they don’t have any of the problems we’ve created, and they’ll still be here long after we’ve gone.  If you still don’t understand what I’m getting at, this urban-centric fantasy we’ve created, then read PINCHER MARTIN by William Golding.  Or even better, try this simple experiment.  Choose a picture or photograph, of anything.  Then without showing it, describe that image to another person, using words.  I’ll save you the effort, it’s impossible.  No matter how long you try, written or spoken, there is no way to describe the experience exactly. 

Yet if you and they were blindfolded, then asked to smell/ taste/ or feel an object, the experience would be almost identical.

Better still, if we got rid of language altogether, in no time we would revert to using our sense of telepathy, how we used to express ourselves.  But then it would they would not be able to control us so easily then.

Weird how we prefer illusion to reality.

Thankfully it doesn’t have to be like this.  We can revert.  We can break free from the jobs and money trap.  We can stop watching tv, reading newspapers, and listening to the radio.  It doesn’t bring happiness, only addiction.  Whereas living simply has brought me the closest I’ve ever known to true freedom.  Being able to wake up with the sun, labour only to make what we need, stay fit and youthful.  I also rejoice in putting something back, helping to replant the global ecology/ forest.  This has to be the most fulfilling feeling there is.  It could be yours too.  The only question is, do you want it enough?

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“believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear”