Minimalism & multi-tasking

I hear reports that minimalism* is on the way out. This is of no consequence to those of us who have never hoped to embrace such style. I think it is perhaps only a possibility for those who have grown up in the age of the Kindle, and so don't have any books, and certainly is hardly possible to the kind who collect wool and/or fabric. There are some people who make things as I do, who just buy enough for the project, and chuck out any remaining material. Others, like me, tend to say 'Oh, give me an extra yard of fabric in case it

Just a few of those extra bits of fabric

needs mending in the future'.

*Minimalism has an interesting relationship with the old idea of 'a place for everything and everything in its place'; but I think the latter idea is more conducive to creating a house with room to collect those empty jamjars that I crave.

Multi-tasking is not getting a good press either, and I saw some report showing that it actually causes us psychological harm, and also makes results from all the tasks juggled less likely to be successful, which is fairly predictable. You are more likely to burn the bread if you are also writing an article at the same time, especially if you can't remember where the oven timer is and you can't find it because it is hidden in clutter because you are not a minimalist.

So the best life is maybe one in which you sit surrounded by your many possessions, concentrating on one thing. This used to be what men did when they got home from work: they would sit reading the paper in an armchair with dog and slippers while dinner was cooked, then they would go and eat it. The woman who cooked it was perhaps reasonably happy in the kitchen, secure in the knowledge that she was at least doing what society expected of her. (Fulfilling expectations can be a source of satisfaction that can rival making the most of one's talents, I think; I speak as one to whom fulfilling expectations matters quite a lot, whatever it looked like from the outside on a Wednesday afternoon when I had gone to windsurf on the lake [those were the days!] rather than cleaning the vicarage, going out lecturing, or whatever else people thought I ought to be doing.)

I'm not advocating such rigidity of life & demarcation of roles, but sometimes I envy it, the feeling that one might at any moment feel to be 'doing the right thing'. (Oh yes, I stand in need of some high-strength Zen to make me feel I am doing the right thing in the present moment at least, tortured soul that I am).

Bathroom with previous wobbly
plastic bath side

Lovely real wood bath side

But this is suppose to be my house-moving blog, so I will tell you about one thing that is good here, and thoughts of minimalism made it come to mind as it would even look right in a minimalist house, and I'd say it has something of the no-nonsense qualities that minimalist things have to have. As for the multi-tasking theme, it also fits with that, as the bath is a place where the only kind of multi-tasking to take place is deciding whether to take a snack and a drink and a book, and whether I can carry them all up at once. I find I take all of these just in case, but then I just shut my eyes. (And don't give me any of those glass doors bordering the bath, as these really do get in the way of my beer, and no, this jolly shower curtain will not be left behind.) When I get out of the bath I don't have the irritation of one of those flimsy plastic bath sides that makes a Rolf Harris noise if your knee rests against it and gets so much in the way, particularly when trying to bath the grandchildren. So please, admire the half-inch marine ply bath side fitted according to my own wishes, and finished by my own hand with Danish oil, by far the best treatment for wood. There's nothing fake or flimsy in this house now, and I only hope I can move to something I can make as good.