Pottering

[Alison]

I do enjoy a bit of Pottering on my days off.

Just sort of idling around at home doing nothing in particular.

Already 11.45, I haven't achieved anything !

Do you indulge in this sort of activity ?

[Ferretfancy]

Alison,
Ah! The joys of pottering! Unfortunately I don't have a boat to potter in like Ratty, but I make up for it by pottering around at home, or drift around the West End, which invariably leads me into music shops, and financial damage ensues!
Not achieved anything by 11.45 ? You need some serious training. I can always manage to potter until at least noon after a late breakfast, and on Sunday we don't usually have it until then.
The secret is early retirement.

[barber olly]

OTE=Alison;84432]I do enjoy a bit of Pottering on my days off.

Just sort of idling around at home doing nothing in particular.

Already 11.45, I haven't achieved anything !

Do you indulge in this sort of activity ?[/QUOTE]

I just wonder, do I ever.... All the time.
Occasionally my wife will ask me 'Have you done anything useful tyet today?'

It's a most therapeutic activity!

[Stillhomewardbound]

There was that excellent, ever so subtle comedy by Charles Wood, 'Don't Forget To Write', based entirely on his own daily existence about a writer who finds everything to do but write (artfully played by George Cole and Gwen Watford).

Well, I'm no writer, but I find pottering the perfect antidote my complete bete-noir ... housekeeping.

Now, there must be another couple of threads on here I can chip into. Yes, keep me here just a little longer!

[eighthobstruction]

I'm afraid I have very high-standards in pottering and you might not come up them....

[Serial_Apologist]

Puritans will baulk at this thread!

"In all directions we use the means of life to justify the ends: we read or go to concerts to improve our minds; we relax to improve our work; we worship God to improve our morals; we even get drunk IN ORDER to forget our worries. Everything that is done playfully, without ulterior motive and second thought, makes us feel guilty, and it is even widely believed that such unmotivated action is impossible. You MUST have a reason for what you do! But the statement is more of a command than an observation. As soon as the ego is divided from the world, like the effect from its cause, it seems to be the puppet of 'motivations' which are really the disowned parts of ourselves. If we could see ourselves whole, as differing postions in the unified field of the world, we should see that we are unmotivated - for the whole floats freely and does not rest upon something beyond itself"

[johnb]

There was that excellent, ever so subtle comedy by Charles Wood, 'Don't Forget To Write', based entirely on his own daily existence about a writer who finds everything to do but write (artfully played by George Cole and Gwen Watford).

I am so pleased that you mentioned "Don't Forget to Write". It was a wonderful series but has somehow sunk without a trace. I remember George Cole, when asked what he had been writing, saying he had planted 100 leeks instead. And then there was the episode that had the phone ringing continually throughout the programme! It's a pity there isn't a DVD set of the series (though whether the reality would match my fond recollections is another matter).

As far as pottering is concerned I would be a potential Gold Medal contestant if it was an Olympic event.

[vinteuil]

well - my life is divvied up into - pottering about the house - faffing about - and - when I venture out - a mild bit of flânerie ...

[Anna]

I'm very good at pottering but acknowledge that it is an excuse for not doing any housework which, quite frankly, is a waste of time as it'll only need doing again next weekend.

Today however I've watched the rugby, been to the market for fruit & veg (and a delicious looking cherry cake), done the washing up and feel I can drift about for the rest of the afternoon with an occasional glace at the crossword without feeling at all guilty.

[Serial_Apologist]

Was just enjoying pottering when the phone rang. I rang back, but they've gone out: I'm sure they'd have inveigled me into doing something purposeful!

[vinteuil]

I'm very good at pottering but acknowledge that it is an excuse for not doing any housework which, quite frankly, is a waste of time as it'll only need doing again next weekend.
.

Anna - I am faffing about - unsuccessfully - to find a quote from Jonathan Swift: finding that his boots had not been cleaned, he remonstrated with his servant - who replied, "Ah, sir, but they'll only need cleaning again tomorrow." The next day, said servant found that there was no food on the table for him, Dean Swift pointing out, "Well, you'll only need feeding again tomorrow... "

But, curses, I can't find the original so as to quote it more exactly...

[MickyD]

I was always a past master at pottering, but the arrival of the internet and sites like this one has elevated my talents to even further heights.

[teamsaint]

if you have a full time job, and especially if you have kids, pottering is a VERY occasional luxury.

most of the people I know work lunatic hours either to keep their job, or to keep their company afloat. Sad but true.

Hoping to join you potterers in a few years time !!

[Anna]

Anna - I am faffing about - unsuccessfully - to find a quote from Jonathan Swift. But, curses, I can't find the original so as to quote it more exactly...

No worries vinteuil - you've got hours more to faff about and find it!

It's not that I'm lazy when it comes to housework but I am of the opinion that it is taken to the extreme these days and over indulgence in it results in lack of resistance to germs. My theory and I'm sticking to it!

[Mary Chambers]

I'm certainly of the opinion that a great deal of the housework that people find to do is unnecessary. It makes them feel they aren't wasting time, I suppose, but I think they are. I'm very critical of the cult of constant definable activity that prevails at present - as if it is in some way a virtue to be busy. It may be unavoidable - in much of my life that's been the case - but I don't see it as a virtue.

Now I have time to potter I'm going to, without a trace of guilt, and watch the mad world hurtling around me.