Slow Life in Australia

On our July visit to Japan I was asked to keep a diary to share with members of the Sloth Club. 'But there's nothing to say' I responded, ' Life is too Slow! - nothing ever happens!'

Having a 'normal' life here in Australia, in a quiet country town, is far removed from the challenges and excitement of living in the cloud forest in Ecuador. I feel guilty that our life is so comfortable. Though we are still poor by a rich country's standards - I marvel at hot water coming out of the taps and the speed that the washing machine cleans Yani's nappies!

We actually own this house (though we are still paying the bank loan) and I have had much joy fixing things and painting and creating food gardens in the big yard. I am acutely aware at how lucky we are to have all these conveniences and the freedom to make choices about most things in our lives.

My mother has just visited us for the past two weeks from the busy and stressful city of the Gold Coast. We talked and joked often about the 'peaceful' nature of this town, having time to spend just sitting and talking with each other and playing with the children.

It is a place where every morning you can wake up relaxed and slowly decide what you want to do with the day. I love projects and challenges and jobs to do, I love being productive, I love finding out about the world, having opinions and sharing them (can we enjoy being 'busy' without being stressed?) and above all I love waking up with my children to the sound of a chorus of bird song at sunrise.

Many people here don't know what to do with their time and spend it destroying themselves and their creativity - smoking, over-eating, drinking, taking drugs, watching TV all day. It is one of the saddest things for me that many mothers and young people here seem to have lost their sense of purpose.

Last week we created a new covered area outside to enjoy as the summer heats up. A small inflatable swimming pool, a sand play area and an outside table for mango processing and picnics - will mean much of our time over the next months will be outside. One of the magic things that happened during this time was when we hung up the Tibetan prayer flags I had received from my best friend for my birthday. About
two hours after they were up and flapping in the wind - 4 different kinds of birds were cavorting around them - butcher birds, pee wees, wagtails and native pigeons - I wonder if the Birds are Tibetan Buddhists!

I do keep up with the world to some extent. I watch the news and have been fascinated and deeply disturbed by the hurricane disasters in the US. The richest
country in the world abandoning its own people while spending billions on unjustified war. The lack of recognition that the hurricanes are an indication of
what is to come as a result of climate change and global warming. The rising price of petrol - an inevitable response to a dwindling resource (not only the result of the hurricanes). Wouldn't it be wonderful if this can lead the way to better transport systems and less cars! - a Slower life.

There is one thing lacking in our ideal Australian Slow Life in Ayr - we are missing our long established local communities. It takes time to make new friends and find like-minded people and I am going to try to spend more time searching out new local networks.