Manual Labour is not meditative

Ye gods! How long has it been since I sat at a computer to do anything other than register for self-assessment tax returns? A long time. It is very odd to think I used to sit at a computer for hours every day, it being my main means of communication, reference, organisation and entertainment. But now, most days, I am outside in a garden somewhere mowing, weeding or planting shrubs. It is certainly a healthier way to live and my arms are clearly now those of a man who lifts and carries heavy things on a daily basis. I have to admit; They gym is nothing compared to daily manual labour for building strength. As an aside, one of my younger clients, in her early 30s, required me to pick up slabs from a friend of hers for a project I am working on. When I arrived, he hailed me thus: "Aha! You must be Pete! She told me 'He's old but he's very strong'". I am not sure if that is exactly a compliment. There were a dozen slabs of 20kg each which I had to carry up 15 steps, through the garden, down 20 steps and into the van. No wonder I eat so much these days!

My concern though: The world can get quite small when your commute is within a 10km radius. It could result in perhaps narrower, less colourful horizons and I confess this is a worry. Conversations these days tend to be largely about plants or garden plans, with the occasional midwifery discussion when we sit down for meals at home. I know a lot now about invasive placentas at least. But this isn't going to maintain the sparkle, I fear.

The question is then: When one does not move outside of a small local radius for one's work and rarely has discussion beyond the prosaic, how to keep the mind active and wide-ranging? Travel, I am told, broadens the mind, and it certainly broadened mine in the decades I was on an aeroplane almost every week. Now I don't travel, will my mind narrow or just stay the same?
I barely get time to read my new Scientist magazine every week and a huge pile of unread editions are piling up. I fear the closing down of intellect and the ossification of opinion and political viewpoint that seems to result from living in a smaller, more familiar world. And I am not even retired yet!
What to do.......

A friend has persuaded me finally to write, due to the reaction my facebook vignettes seem to garner when I attribute character and opinion to the myriad creatures in my garden (real or imagined). My friend is a very switched-on kind of chap with an excellent grasp of human motivations and he suggested that this might have appeal. And so, I shall be setting up another  page on this platform, or possibly on WordPress, where I have other historical writings, to give voice to the frogs, insects, birds, small mammals and other less definable characters who inhabit my tiny parcel of Gloucestershire. I am not sure when I will get time to do this, though Autumn is on its way and by the nature of my new career, the amount of work must decrease, possibly to almost zero (though I have some community garden development projects that are all year round now). I shall have to ensure I make time.

Because, frankly, if I don't do something soon, I fear I shall regress to the intellect of a potato (albeit perhaps one of those interesting ones like Anja or Pink Fur Apple).

Right now, however, I have to rush off now to light my pizza oven for a small gathering. I shall of course make sure no wrens have taken up residence in the lovely dry wood stacked within. They would be very cross and berate me loudly from a safe distance.
In the meantime, watch this space.....