Where do you spend your energy?

Unexpected Events

Things always happen to scupper our plans and in 2020 mostly for many of us that would have been COVID and lockdowns. 

So many people I know had holidays booked and entered 2020 full of optimism. That could have been about travel, business ventures, weddings, major celebrations of another type. You name it there was something in everyone's calendars for this 2020 year. Then the news got more and more excited about this virus from the East... and before we knew it the country was thrust into it's first full lockdown towards the backend of March 2020.

It was a pretty nice start to the summer as I remember and there were plenty of amazing bike rides on roads empty of traffic, making the cycling experience all the more enjoyable. In the early part of summer I supported a few families in getting some "growing underway" ... with time on our hands might as well do something that would help to provide food!

The virus continued to feature in a major way during the summer as the government tried its best to keep the virus under control. Various attempts at different approaches from partial lockdown to regional controls were used to no real avail and a second lockdown loomed with a real and substantial threat to Christmas in 2020.

In September inline with a newly acquired enthusiasm for "growing food" firmly ensconced, an allotment became available... the picture you see at the top of this post was its initial condition back in October 2020 after a weekend or two of time "digging" already invested.

During 2020 I would normally have visited Hungary and a new village house acquisition many times, but the pandemic tore those plans to shreds. This presented an opportunity to re-evaluate where time was spent... it could have been spent mourning the unfairness of the world and how the government had mismanaged the situation... or it could have been spent in a more productive and industrious manner reallocating time to other endeavours.

This brings up the main thrust of this post which is, what I have observed is the inordinate amount of time spent on things that we have absolutely no control of. It might be gratifying to talk with others who share the same views as us and agree on dysfunctional governments or become enthusiastically engaged in heated debate about conspiracy theories surrounding the whole pandemic issue. In reality it amounts to just patting ourselves on the back or getting annoyed that people can't seem to get why they are wrong about whatever it is we're arguing (discussing) about.

So time was invested in the allotment rather than fruitless argument about things the majority of us can do little if anything about. Once complete this will be a source of food and pleasure going on into the future and is something many of us could do with not only food production benefits, but comradery, relationship building, health and wellness, and fitness benefits to boot. 

There is something magical about bringing things to life, nurturing and tending them, and then enjoying the fruits of your labour. Would this have happened without lockdown? ... certainly it would have taken longer. The benefits of being away from TV, Propaganda, negativity, and replacing it with a stress free natural environment can not be underplayed.

These little (not so little) plots of land can be rented from the council's around the country and offer an oasis in what might become a difficult few years ahead... I thoroughly recommend doing this for anyone who has no garden, such as those living in flats... but be quick... it might just get very popular sooner than we think.