It was interesting listening this morning to the Independent's travel writer, Simon Calder saying that we'd lost the ability to travel 'terrestrially'. He was commenting on a family who were 'stranded' in central France beacause their flight back to England had been cancelled due to the plume of volcanic ash over Europe. "Why don't they just hire a car, go to the nearest port and board a cross channel ferry?" he wondered. And he's right. We really have lost that ability to think outside the box. We've become so set in our ways, so dependent on technology, that when trouble comes our way, we just can't cope.
Last week we faced some of that ourselves. The very day that friends of ours arrived from England to stay for a few days, our electrity went off for hours. And as dinner time and darkness approached we began to panic. So we decided the best thing to do was to prepare sandwiches, and light candles. In the end it was great fun -- very romantic and atmospheric. And eventually the lights did come on.
But the following day when we awoke, we discovered that now there was no water! We all had to do without showering. The breakfast dished piled up in the sink, and the toilet couldn't be flushed. So instead of complaining -- I went down to a local natural fountain and brought a bucket of water back to the house. It was enough to fill the kettle and to flush the toilet.
You see when push comes to shove, we can survive. It's just that we need to be creative, and make the best of hard situations.
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