Morning Pogue,

I once sat and did some maths to find out if I hadn’t had children how old I would have been before I could have afforded an Aston Martin. I could have owned one a long time ago🥴

But now I wouldn’t thank you for giving me one, or anything else prestigious for that matter. I have a friend who says “It’s all froth”, meaning it’s all meaningless additions which actually may massage our egos and bring us to other people’s attentions, but in fact add nothing to life. Now I seek a car that offers a degree of comfort and meets my practical needs. Simples!

I would suggest that’s it. Simples. That’s what the best and most lasting things in life are. The things that have substance. The things that are there when all else falls away are the things that should count.

Agreed?

Big houses, we have all aspired to one, but only in particular circumstance do we actually need one. Wardrobes full of clothes. We can manage without. Fancy restaurants. A nicety but no more than that. Exotic holidays. Unnecessary. None of these things are the real substance of life and I fear we have almost lost the things that underpin a life of any quality.

I need a break from all.the noise.
I want to breath the clean air
and swim in the clean water.
I want to sit on the
porch of an old
cabin and listen to the stillness.
I want to be out where things
are simple and every breath is
a reminder that there is beauty
and magic left in the world.

Brooke Hampton

Me, I am leaning into the old values. I’m working on spending time with the people who add to my life, the people who think freely and approach the world with an open mind. I’m finding value in evenings of conversation around a bottle of wine with space for expression and exploration, less need for entertainment and someone else filling my thoughts. Shared meals and coffees. Time spent reading in quiet places. All these good things that have been lost to many. Simple pleasures.

Tell me, have we come to a place where we have allowed life to be filled with things that are of no lasting value. Endless TV series, the latest “must have” items that will be gone in a season, people whose only real interest is themselves. The magic hasn’t left the world, we’ve just forgotten it’s there.

Maybe a little effort is required to turn away from the values we’ve allowed to establish themselves in our lives. We’ve been sold a lie about what is of value. It came shiny and intriguing with a promise that you will find unfulfilled. But we bought it and then we needed another one because the first was unfulfilling and on and on. Let’s you and I take time to find lasting values, simple pleasures and a little magic.

At the risk of repeating myself, me, I am leaning towards the old values but I am thinking, there may be a whole generation who have no concept or experience of these values. Let’s help them learn.

Yours, writing over a long coffee,

Wic