day1
No connection!
This last week I have been staying in a remote highland eco youth hostel on Rannoch moor, at Loch Ossian with 14 of our students (http://www.greentourism.org.uk/SYHA). If you check out the hostel site youâll see that it is a touch basic compared to normal western living conditions. There is interior lighting and heat to some degree but no plug sockets for guests. So bang goes using the laptop/radio/digi camera/ mobile (no reception anyway). You get the picture. Oh and the best of all no TV, so what do you do for entertainment, well if there ainât TV, you can still talk about it. Seriously it was amazing how much of the conversation on the first day and night revolved around the tele box. Very interesting how the lack of perceived external stimuli really pulls the rug from under peoples feet. By the third night the students had settled in more and the conversation had changed to one that was much more open and less superficial. It was also great to be reminded about all the technology and resource that we take for granted, like what happens during a power cut or when water supply is interrupted. Oh, that was the other âthingâ; there was no shower or bath, just a sink and creative washing in a room where the temperature hovered at around 2-3 degrees (it doubled as our fridge). For me this trip provided perspective from outside the box that is my daily, manic, technology based, frenzied life, a quiet expanse to reflect from.
Ps. it also provided tired legs from the Three 1000m snow-covered mountains that we climbed while there.
This last week I have been staying in a remote highland eco youth hostel on Rannoch moor, at Loch Ossian with 14 of our students (http://www.greentourism.org.uk/SYHA). If you check out the hostel site youâll see that it is a touch basic compared to normal western living conditions. There is interior lighting and heat to some degree but no plug sockets for guests. So bang goes using the laptop/radio/digi camera/ mobile (no reception anyway). You get the picture. Oh and the best of all no TV, so what do you do for entertainment, well if there ainât TV, you can still talk about it. Seriously it was amazing how much of the conversation on the first day and night revolved around the tele box. Very interesting how the lack of perceived external stimuli really pulls the rug from under peoples feet. By the third night the students had settled in more and the conversation had changed to one that was much more open and less superficial. It was also great to be reminded about all the technology and resource that we take for granted, like what happens during a power cut or when water supply is interrupted. Oh, that was the other âthingâ; there was no shower or bath, just a sink and creative washing in a room where the temperature hovered at around 2-3 degrees (it doubled as our fridge). For me this trip provided perspective from outside the box that is my daily, manic, technology based, frenzied life, a quiet expanse to reflect from.
Ps. it also provided tired legs from the Three 1000m snow-covered mountains that we climbed while there.
posted by Phsteve at 4:43 AM
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