h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Wrestling with Henry day again today. It's good to have the house all shiny again but it's not an activity that produces much thought. Cleaning ought to be good thinking time but the thinking is all about what order to dust the room in and noticing how worn the carpet's got in front of the sofa.

Good thinking time is missing these days. It used to happen on the commute to work. That took 45 minutes. Going home it took 22 minutes through town, spent on work-thinking. Then on the relatively clear A49 through countryside, work would vanish and all sorts could happen. It was a poem once - involving two stops to scribble lines down so they woudn't be forgotten. Now the drive home from work only takes 15 minutes and is not enough time to wind down fom work. VAT, Gift Aid, new EPOS systems, NHS Pensions, banking arrangements, 5 year forecasts, unbalanced aged creditors, investment policies are still spinning around and it can take a good twenty minutes chatting to the chickens for it to stop. Chatting to S doesn't help, he just gets an unbalanced stream of the day's VAT, Gift Aid, EPOS, Pensions, banking and budgeting frustrations. Talking to the chickens about such stuff bores them and might addle the eggs, so we talk about the availability of worms, who's had a dust bath and who's been pulling whose tail feathers. Very unruffling.

Hey, someone else talks the their chickens and i thought i was the only one

I read this last night Waz, and I must say it made me feel unruffled too, after some of the 'stuff' on other threads - so thanks! I appreciated it, yet again.

It is true - even the little bits of time we used to have for winding down are now put to "use" for things which fill our minds.

The brain needs time to wind down and sort itself out. It might be worth getting some chickens or a cat for the sake of sanity.

Chickens are just so cool and they make eggs too which is a bonus

I use birdwatching and badger watching to unwind, but even those times are scarce now, life is such a rush.

I would love chickens but so would the foxes

Years ago, going through a traumatic time a friend gave me a fish tank and some tropical fish. Now that's relaxing... except I don't now like the thought of them in captivity

Websailor

Foxes ... yes. You can't be fox-proof, but we have three lines of defense. The neighbours who look after them if we're away say the chickens are no trouble - once they've managed to get through the defenses to them.

Lanza, if you found this unruffling, that is so cool!

I will tell the chickens .

The only comment on unruffling a year on is that I could of course drive slower on the way home. Nice bonus in a bit of petrol saving too. But I don't. I'm too wound up. It takes a real, conscious effort to slow down when wound up. Eddie Mair on Radio 4 after 6.00 helps a bit . He is a very witty but calmingly measured dude. Too dead-pan witty for some recent Newsnight interviewees.

The chickens, led by Twiglet chicken and Kiwi chicken, are interested most in getting out the gate into the garden at present. Kiwi wants the grass. With Twiglet it's 50/50 between the grass and running round, over and underfoot. Kiwi is pulling everyone else's tail feathers and growls if the henhouse door is opened while she's in there. She lets herself down though in her undignified haste for treats when she runs so fast she takes off without meaning to, careers though the air for a couple of metres squawking, and crash lands with an extremely startled expression. Stupit chick'n.

One of the potential growing ruffle-factors at work is the developing relationship with a couple of long-standing volunteers. The work they're used to doing will move to us. They do support the organisation, they do, but boredom at home, lack of social contact etc. mean that creating a bit of drama or intrigue at work is more fulfilling and entertaining. There are red flags waving and a need to do some careful channelling of energies...