Back from the wilds

Nimue Brown

June 18

(Nimue)

I had a very lovely week living in a yurt. Twice, I encountered deer in the field in the early morning. There were buzzards, kites, ravens and wild geese as well as a whole host of small birds in the nearby trees. Some of them were quite friendly. There were owls, and bats, wildflowers, and a massive, beautiful view. The weather was occasionally challenging.

Being off grid and having no wi-fi is rather entertaining as a short term experience. I have lived it – during two years on a narrowboat. I would not choose to live that way again. The challenges of everyday life with a drop toilet and limited electricity have charm when you're doing it for a week, but are exhausting when you do it all the time and also have to earn a living.

It was a great luxury being able to take so much quiet time, immersed in the natural world. At the same time it renewed my appreciation of indoors plumbing, especially. It is good to be reminded of how comfortable modern living really is, and how much we benefit from it. It is all too easy to romantacise the off-grid life, the shift 'back to nature' and all the rest of it and to forget how tough and demanding that can be if you are living it rather than playing at it. I like playing at it, and I can recommend playing at it.

One of the things that struck me is how much I take for granted and depend on running water in the kitchen. It's quite a challenge cooking without it – although not impossible and I'm good at cooking on a fire. It has to be said that cooking on an open fire is a pretty inefficient way to do things. Again, I was only playing at it because I did not have to do the work involved in sourcing or prepping the wood.

Like most humans, I really benefit from time in the open, in peaceful surroundings rich with beauty. Like most humans, I'm not cut out to live like that all of the time. We've spent thousands of years developing ways to live more comfortably, and there is a lot to be said for it. I do think we have gone too far, and that we need to learn to be happier with less, and to better enjoy what we have. Right now, I'm feeling the love for a toilet I can visit in the night without needing a coat and a torch. That's luxury, and many of our ancestors would agree. The rest of them were probably better organised with buckets/chamber pots.