All Talk

Elvis Presley asked for 'A little less conversation a little more action please'. Well, despite his polite manner I'm going to have to disagree.

The leftie hippy types that are running rampant through our culture and it's airways are constantly banging on about how these days no-one talks to one another.  The world is jam-packed with lonely drones drifting through life on a raft of individualism with no care for the stranger next door and, apparently, it's bad for us.

So this week as we seek to find out how much is really enough we turn to conversation and the hypothesis that there is simply not enough of it.  Some of you have no problem with rambling on at great length about anything at all or nothing in particular. But talking and conversation are not perfectly interchangeable concepts.

So in order to get a little more conversation into your world how about you join me in talking up the 4C's Challenge (patent pending). Having four conversations with people in four different categories over the space of a week.

The categories are as follows:

The Stranger - someone who's name you don't know and who you have never spoken to before.
The Casual Acquaintance - you know their name and say hello but have never shared a conversation.
The Old Friend - You used to be so close but have drifted, now you haven't seen them in ages
The Opponent - someone you have never clicked with, you rub each other up the wrong way or you have had a falling out.

So what classifies as a conversation? Well in my book a conversation involves the exchange of stories or information by both parties about themselves which would not normally be exchanged in a passing comment.

Let me give you some examples of what would not, therefore, pass as a conversation.

A: That's some rain isn't it?
B: Desperate altogether.

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A:  Do you need a bag?
B:  Em...  no, I'm alright.

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A:  Hi, my name is Brian and I'm calling to tell you about some great offers available to you as a valued customer,
B:  Sorry, I'm not in.

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A:  Hi there darling, can I buy you a drink?
B:  I'd rather have the money thanks.


So are you conversing enough? Are you up for a chat? Could you manage just four extra conversations in your week?  Join in via the comments section or on twitter using #enough2014

Stripping Back

So the clothes have gone,

Three very large black bags filled with assorted garments, four pairs of shoes and two suits have made their way out of our house and on to fulfil their destiny in the big bad world.  It was emotional.

Here's what (I think) I've learnt.

Easy come, easy go.
With some of the pile of bile stacked in my drawers and wardrobes it was an exuberantly cathartic experience to throw them one after another onto the discard pile. My only thought was, 'Why had I not done this sooner'.

Pragmatism is liberating.
I knew that if I had not worn something for a year then I didn't need it and it could go. None of this blethering on about 'maybe you'll need that again some day' or 'Perhaps it will fit me in the future'. No siree, if in doubt, chuck it out. Beautiful.

I am a sentimental fool.
It's true, I am. There were some items of clothing I happened upon which I hadn't seen in ages and all the old memories came flooding back. The adventures I'd had in that t-shirt, the things I'd seen while wearing that jumper, how snug those jeans were.  There were the novelty shirts that evoked memories of the laughter of small children and the shoes that could never be matched for comfort and sturdiness.  These items, though not many, were the ones hardest to bin and some, I confess, I kept.

I could've gone further.
All my clothes now fit into one wardrobe and it is spacious and airy. But I feel a little underwhelmed by the experience. The genuine excitement of getting rid of the excess has been tempered by still feeling I have took much. Perhaps I'll do another sweep, trim it down a bit more.

Which begs the question, how much is enough, when it comes to clothes. Well, in order to maintain some sort of social niceties I reckon the average man needs only these clothes:

A suit
Two formal shirts
Two formal ties
Three casual shirts
Four t-shirts (one reserved for exercise)
Three jumpers
Three pairs of trousers
One pair of casual shorts
One pair of sports shorts
One pair of good shoes
One pair of smart/casual shoes
One pair of trainers
Enough underwear for 4 days.

I have more than this, but I reckon this is enough.

What do you think? Contribute via the comments section or on twitter using #enough2014

The Emperor's Old Clothes

I have too many clothes.  I am not a dedicated follower of fashion nor am I a shopaholic. Many of my clothes are misshapen, sack-like garments with all the style of an ironing board.  I just have too many.

On the other hand there are many people in the world with not very many clothes at all. In rural Kenya, for example, many people have one good outfit which has been handmade by a relative or friend.  The girls and women would own a dress and the boys and men a shirt made from brightly coloured material and take care of that dress and wear it often.  In photographs, particularly low-quality grainy ones folk could recognise whole swathes of people just by what they were wearing.

 

There are also people in our own country who are happy to make use of second-hand clothes, the wife is one.  She will happily browse through the racks of a charity shops for that hidden gem – and she often finds it.   Some will do this because their budgets are restrained others do it because they are simply savvy shoppers.

Now donating clothes to the third world is probably not the greatest idea (find out why here) but there is nothing to hinder us returning our lesser worn items back into the retail chain.

This realisation combined with the increasing difficulty of closing wardrobe doors has given me the urge to purge and so I’m saying enough is enough and getting rid of a whole heap of them.  That’s right; the challenge is to reduce my clothing stock by ¾ (three quarters) over the course of the next week.  If the item is no longer useful it visits the recycling bin, if it’s still in decent order it goes to the charity shop – simples.  I  may need your help deciding between some garments so keep an eye on this blog through the week for that.

Don’t misunderstand me, this is not an anti-consumerism statement (although that probably is an issue here) it’s a question of sharing.  Do you, like me, have too many clothes?  Are you up for a clear out?  Join me on this mission to recommission, go on, I dare you.

Join the conversation and follow my progress through the comments section or on twitter using #enough2014.

Telly Addict?

I’ve done it, no TV for a whole week, what a hero.

It was at times frustrating and at times liberating but the main aim was to find out how much TV viewing was enough, so what did I discover?

Well on a basic level it is clear that I, and quite possibly you too, don’t need TV at all. It is not in any way crucial to my existence and if my 32” screen was kidnapped by aliens I probably wouldn’t bother with the ransom. But just because you don’t need something to keep breathing doesn’t mean it’s all bad.

So here are some thoughts on televisual viewing:

Some shows are bad but some are plain wrong. The bible says that, ‘The eye is the lamp of the body’ and some stuff on telly shines a very dark light. Shows like ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ and ‘Geordie Shore’ for example; they’re not edifying, not clever, and not useful. Now I’m not a prude but that’s just the problem, if I was I would never have any interest in that sort of thing and it wouldn’t be an issue. But I’m not a prude so I could quite easily be drawn into watching what is, quite frankly, filth. A week without TV has left me feeling a little cleaner.

TV is a sharp tool in the procrastinator’s kit. So many things need to be done and yet, because they aren’t very fun, the TV goes on instead.  We flick and flick until there’s something ‘worth’ watching and then we watch it to the end, wasting a full 30-60 minutes in the process.  If you’ve something else to do, don’t turn on the telly. A week without TV has allowed me to be more productive.

I thought watching TV when I had nothing else to do would be the one time it would be acceptable, but I think I was wrong.  Moments when there is nothing to do are rare for most people, don’t waste them on TV programmes.  It is lazy thinking to just switch on the box in the corner instead of engaging our brain first.  Not having that option has forced me to find other pleasant things to do like reading a book for enjoyment, baking with my wife, spending time in prayer and reflection, exercise.  A week without TV brought more variety to my days.

So when is it OK (for me) to watch TV? When its planned.  Pick the shows you want to watch and only watch those. In this age of the Red Button we can watch what we like, when we like, where we like (pretty much), so we have more control than ever before.  If you plan your viewing you can restrict the time you spend watching, be more discerning over the content, and avoid having the empty minutes of your day filled with someone else’s thoughts.

This week has been useful, if not revolutionary, and I would very much recommend you to try it. 

Right then, I wonder if Bargain Hunt is on...

Pointless?

The problem with declaring with a new blog that you’re going to say ‘enough is enough’ is that you actually have to follow through.

So here we go.

The first thing that there is more than enough of in my little life is TV.

Now I’m not a fanatic, not a TV fundamentalist.  I don’t spend four hours a night in front of the tellybox but there is still too much TV in my life.

Myself and the wife realised this a while ago but no matter how much we tried to cut down on staring into the screen in the corner of the room we never seemed to make much of an impact. So, in a bold move, we took the thing into the ‘other room’ (every house should have one).  What a difference: The living room was more spacious, it was brighter (no black box looming in the corner) and it was quieter - although to be fair the main reason the living room was quieter was because we’d all gone into the ‘other room’ to watch telly. Fail.

‘What’s the big problem with TV anyway’ you might ask.  Good question. It’s not all bad. There’s important stuff like ‘News at 10’, informative stuff like ‘Antiques Roadshow’, inspiring stuff like, ‘George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces’, funny stuff like ‘Would I Lie To You’, Holy stuff like ‘The Bible’ and darn right fabulous entertainment like, ‘Sherlock’.  But there’s also even better stuff that’s a hundred times worse, shows that you could watch all day and never be bored and yet never satisfied. One show in particular epitomises this genre – ‘Pointless’

Pointless is possibly the most perfectly pitched piece of television ever.  It’s tea-time viewing with a gentle yet grown up sense of humour. It’s a proper quiz that doesn’t take itself too seriously and it’s hosted by the terribly posh and awfully funny Alexander Armstrong and the extremely tall winner of Heat Magazine’s’ weird crush of 2011, Richard Osman. I love it.

Pointless is, the in the words of Marshall Crenshaw, ‘My favourite waste of time’.  But I know deep down inside that it really is a waste of time, or at least, watching too much of it would be.  If I watched an episode of pointless five days a week until I was 72, I would have been watching it for 468,000 minutes, that’s 7,800 hours or 325 days. Almost a year of my life spent watching TV if I only watch one 45 minute programme seven days a week – and I watch far more than that!

So it’s clear to me that I watch too much, but where is the line?  Well in order to find out how much TV I need, I’m going to cut it out all together for a week to see what I miss. That means no Pointless, no Would I lie to You, no Grey’s Anatomy, no Revenge, no Mrs Brown’s Boys, no MoTD, no Buzzcocks, no DVD’s and no catch-up either (I’m not even going to watch this week’s shows next week, if you know what I mean).  That’s midnight on Sunday 13^th to midnight on Sunday 20^th. If this doesn’t sound like a big deal to you then why not join me.  Think of the things we could accomplish instead. I could finish that book, get those odd-jobs done around the house, go for long walks on the beach, I might even be able to squeeze in a conversation with the wife!

I’ll miss Richard and Alexander of course (and I don’t even want to mention what the prospect of not watching Match of the Day feels like) but it’s only for a week and it might just do me some good!

Follow along on twitter to see if I survive or join in the conversation using #enough2014.

Oi! That's enough

One of the great thinkers of the twentieth century, Mary Poppins, said, 'Enough is as good as a feast.'  But was she right?

For all the talk of recessions and downturns and the like there still seems to be an awful lot of stuff and gadgets and money and luxury sloshing around. Now maybe there is nothing wrong with all that kinda thing but it leaves me feeling weary.

It seems that excess equals success in the western world today but that doesn't feel like a great formula to me. So at the crossroads of self-examination, frustration and experimentation I've decided to do something about it.

But how much is enough and how much is too much?

We could all talk at length about how much is enough and come up with different answers. It's all relative really, there is no definitive value for 'enough'.  It depends on your circumstances, the society you live in and the thing you're trying to quantify.

Too much stuff and not enough love? Maybe.
Too much talk and not enough action? Probably.

So over the course of 2014 I intend to have a look at myself and see whether it is possible to cope with 'enough' in the world I live in. It's not going to happen all at once but each week I'll look at one part of my life, sometimes vital, often trivial, and see if it needs trimmed down or beefed up and then actually try and do something about it.

Why not join me,

2014 is the year I'm going to (try to) say enough is enough.