Slow down and take it easy

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There is a movement towards slowness sweeping Europe- well hardly sweeping- this would be far too stressful, but spreading nonetheless. Most of the links are from the UK but there are probably equivalents in your own countries.
First came the Slow Food Movement this originated in Italy as a reaction to McDonald's. Italians are nationalistic about their food and the farming lobby has a great deal of clout so this was not greatly surprising. The movement became something more than a protest and became more a celibration of community and of the family. One reason families have become so fragile is that they rarely eat together and it is often not home cooked food if they do. If efect the Slow Food Movement became an anti feminist movement because families where both parents work cannot have time for the civilizing influence of good food that the movement advocates.
Next came the concept of Slow Towns. The motivation behind some of these projects may be slightly suspect. Expensive local traders often lobby to keep the national chains out of their area because they cannot compete. You will notice that the only customer in the Ludlow greengrocer is clearly a tourist. I feel a little sorry for the local consumer who has to pay tourist prices. The chief motivation behind making Ludlow and other similar towns into slow towns seems to be tourism rather than the quality of life for local people. Ludlow also takes great pride in its local food and hold a food festival each year and supports taste real food. Ludlow also has a longstanding survivalist group which takes this self sufficient ethos one step further.
We have the sublime Idler magazine with its mix of upper class anarchism, practical idling tips, humor and parenting advice in the form of the Idle parent that became a minor cult of its own. The slow movement even has its own mass movement in the form of the International Institute for Not Doing Much. I say 'movement' but the truth is they do not actually do anything at all. You may also like Early Retirement Extreme,
Feminism keeps us all running round in circles to buy things we do not need. If we ever stopped we might wake up and realize we were men and women rather than cogs in a machine. The whole movement is pro human and anti feminist without even realizing it. I support idleness! Just don't expect me to do anything about it!
All photographs are from Ludlow- the first UK slow town.

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