A man’s forest garden produces tons of food, while practically tending itself. Historically, farms and forests have been foes. Conventional wisdom says we have to cut down the forest to make way for agriculture. But a growing movement called agro-forestry capitalises on the free services forests provide farmers and gardeners.
The tiny house movement has grown in popularity over recent years, and now it makes more sense than ever. No matter the size or location, home is where the heart should be. Whether it’s a mansion in the suburbs, a city apartment with a view or a cottage by the sea, it won’t be home unless you love living in it.
Be careful what you wish for as it could come true. Research reveals that winning the lottery doesn’t necessarily mean winning happiness. Many winners reflect that their lives were happier before they struck gold. The one positive effect is that most winners do claim to be happy but no happier than they were before their win.
For much of human history, privacy during bedtime was an alien concept. Many poor families lived in small houses, where there was only one or two rooms, the larger of which functioned as bedroom and living room both shared by every occupant of the house, including any guests. Even in large houses and palaces, it was not uncommon for servants to sleep in the same room as the master’s. When King Henry V bedded Catherine of Valois, writes Bill Bryson in At Home, both his steward and chamberlain were present in the room. In such circumstances, bed curtains provided a little privacy. But if you wanted true privacy, you had to sleep in a box bed.
We have come a long way since 1960 when the censor’s dead hand was lifted off the D. H. Lawrence novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. I am not surprised that distinguished English author first considered calling his literary book Tenderness. The lovemaking between Lady Chatterley and her gamekeeper lover Oliver Mellors was sensitively portrayed. The language used was typically rustic without intending to shock.
The American company Boston Dynamics, which produces robots, has published a specific New Year’s greetings on social networks.
Christmas Eve was traditionally the time to tell scary stories round the hearth. And 19th-century writers were fearsomely adept at exploiting a world of creaking floorboards, creepy servants … and gas lamps that caused hallucinations.
For several decades now, it has become normality not only for us, the Western world, but in all parts of the world, that women have a fixed job in the working world, that they have to go to school, that they have to make money.
‘I had the privilege of knowing and becoming a friend of the international tracker and survival specialist, Eddie McGee (1938-2002). A former Special Air Forces (SAS) army sergeant, Eddie achieved international fame when in 1982 he used his phenomenal tracking skills to track down triple-killer, Barry Prudom (1944-1982).
Was there ever more elegance and style than when women’s dress sense was further enhanced by fur stoles, veils and dress gloves. I am reminded of U.S. President Reagan’s wife Nancy Reagan when being received by the Pope. Wearing a veil this otherwise ordinary lady is transformed into an almost saintly figure.
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