Today is the Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, the 21st of June. The time is 11h19 and the sun has only just reached the solar panels at the cottage on Greenhaven Farm. This is an exciting event as the cloud cover and winter rain over the last two days has left the house a little energy deficient. All power on the farm is harvested from the sun, so without sun and without sufficient battery storage one has to be patient. The battery storage on the farm will be increased, but all in good time!
Patience seems to be the mantra for simple living. The more I am having to practice patience, the more the challenge of patience arises! Sailing and at sea, we wait for wind, on land, the sun! I am thinking that maybe it has been the human tendency towards impatience which has driven our current social and economic system. In the past we waited to save enough money to enjoy a meal out in a restaurant, this used to be a luxury of the highest order, reserved for celebratory occasions. Today we expect to eat out regularly, or to cook abundant meals, daily. My mother tells stories of waiting for a year or two for a new dress, or for her mother to afford the fabric to make new dresses for her daughters, and when that occasion came around, how special and exciting it was. Today we expect new clothes every season, manufactured clothing from a factory, sometimes made with little care for quality and often made from plastic materials .
We live in a world of instant gratification, we expect abundance and pleasure instantly, to turn on a switch for instant power, always.
I am wondering if the scourge and the “DISease” of substance abuse is not linked to impatience, the need for instant pleasure without the reward and the wait. Without the work and the effort. With impatience there also seems to be the expectation of having and owning more and more. We are “gobblers” of things and experiences.
I have waited, impatiently, for the sun to reach the cottage and the solar panels. The Solar Regulator is shouting the good news that there is now 5.8 amps of power pouring into the batteries, up from 0.1amps an hour ago. It is time to place “things” on charge and to enjoy a cup of coffee in the sun and the prospect is pleasurable!
The Red Kettle 