Drudgery postponed

I’m halfway through Tom Hodgkinson’s How to be Idle, a delightful and persuasive call to kick back and savor the simple things of life, especially when at work.  He’s a writer from the UK where he edits and publishes The Idler website where you can learn more about the book and be introduced to a thriving and lazy community of idlers on the constant search for new ways to rebel against the Protestant Work Ethic.  

My “drudgery postponed” post title above is borrowed from Hodgkinson, a phrase I particularly liked because it carries the same meter as the wording of the title, Paradise Regained, John Milton’s less interesting sequel to his Paradise Lost.  Drudgery was postponed, Hodgkinson explains in his chapter, “The Death of Lunch,” in an earlier era when lunch was a more leisurely affair than it is now in this age of fast food.  It might easily last longer than an hour and might involve “a stroll around town, a taxi-ride, a trip to the gallery.”  It might even lead on into the evening, “and leave behind it a delightful trail of cancelled appointments and drudgery postponed” (p. 58).  

So I’ve resolved to be more idle at work.  The new semester is fast approaching with student advising starting next week.  It will be a duty and a pleasure to find new ways to slack off, to savor the moment, and to enjoy my time on campus with a minimum of anxiety.

It’s quite the coincidence, really, that I’m reading this book now after having already resolved last year to enjoy my time at work more.  For example, instead of usually eating my sack lunch in my office where I might be tempted to continue working, I’ve begun a new routine: I carry my office chair down an easy two flights of metal steps to the ground level where the concrete meets a grassy slope.  Here at the rear of the building, I can enjoy the birds singing in the trees and look around at the blue skies and forested mountains that surround me.  A bite of sandwich, a sip of tea, and a good read in the great outdoors make for such a more satisfying lunch than staying cloistered in my office surrounded by post-it notes reminding me of chores still to do.

 

Utah natural ice sculpture