The Idler

Boycott the Banks: Buy Gold

For those who missed it, here is the short film I made with the BBC’s Daily Politics show, about the romance and practicality of buying gold coins, and using them as an alternative currency.

And if you are persuaded to buy gold coins rather than putting money into pension schemes and usurious banks, then here is the website of John Haynes and Co, noble dealers in gold and silver. I’d highly recommend a visit to this charming shop if you find yourself in the City, and many thanks to John and Christopher for their time and insights. TH

Do Less in Two Thousand and Ten

Here is my latest “idle parent” column for the Daily Telegraph. TH

BACK TO SCHOOL, BACK TO WORK, back to the fields. In the old medieval calendar, Plough Monday, which was the first Monday after the Feast of the Epiphany or Twelfth Night, marked the end of the Christmas holidays. Those lucky medievals had enjoyed a two week holiday over Christmas, but now it was time to open the shops and harness the plough, in order to prepare the ground for spring sowing. Another custom was St Distaff’s Day, the first Tuesday after Epiphany, which marked the day when the women would resume their duties at the spinning wheel. As Herrick put it:

Partly work and partly play
Ye must on St Distaff’s Day

So in 2010, the men would have returned to their toils on 11th of January and the women on the 12th. As it is, most us generally resume toil on the 4th, meaning that before the Reformation people we had a much better deal, although this year the snow extended the holiday, giving us a nice insight into what the medieval Christmas would have been like.
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The Mighty Thaw

The snow is now rapidly thawing, the roads are clear, and we are getting back to work after the extended holiday. We are making a start on clearing the mail order backlog, and will get the parcels in the post on Monday. Apologies for the delays.

TH

Mail Order News

North Devon is still covered in ice and snow, so we have not been able to get any orders in the post. Nor have we received any mail. I admit that we’ve been enjoying the extended holiday (see below). But rest assured that when the thaw comes, we will spend a couple of days catching up and get everything up to date. So we’d hope to get all your books and t-shirts and so on into the post by the end of this week.

Delilah in the Snow

TH

Country Diary 90

WE HAVE NOW been snowed in for a week. A few days ago, we all walked down to the local pub, about a mile and half away down a steep hill, with our neighbour Peter. We treated ourselves to a fine lunch and I had a brandy. With luck we bumped into Cliff at the pub, and he kindly gave us a lift back in his Land Rover, a great relief as we were dreading the cold walk home. Our other sojourn to the outside world was to the B&B at nearby Woody Bay Statin, to collect our fruit and vegetable delivery. Our plan was to make the three miles round trip into a family day out, but we quickly realised that two or three hours of walking in the snow with small children with a temperatrure of minus three would not be much fun, so in the end I dragged Henry’s excellent plastic sledge there on my own. (more…)