Many will remember Tom and Barbara from Surbitan and their venture into self- suffiency. Most of the time life appeared to balance out fairly with the freedom of being out of the rat-race.

This got me to thinking. Imagine if vast swathes of the population chose to make this life a reality. Solar energy to drive the home, compost toilets, home grown fruit and veg along with home reared animals, water collected and saved and clothes made by one’s own hands. It sounds idyllic and easy. No boss to tell you what to do and when to do it. No ridiculous journeys to work or to the shops. Sitting around fires chatting and playing music. Oh yes I am sold on that ideal.

However, it leaves many a question and a plethora of problems.

Society would soon break down. Industry would grind to a halt and vast gaps in tax collection would develop causing untold problems. Laws and enforcement would crumble and education would suffer an appalling  decline. That is my view but would things really pan out like that? I mean if we all became dependent on ourselves and our families needs then, surely, we could cope and survive?

Well I don’t think so.

It would be fine if we all had the same and aspired the mirror image of our fellow humans but that just isn’t the case. Bigger tomatoes or a larger crop of potatoes would ensure envy to rise and thus confrontation, theft or damage. Greed would give rise to one wanting more than everyone else and the weak would fall behind in every field.

Its one thing to read about a couple going off-piste or living apart from the national grid and the stories are quaint and cool to  hear about but that is where the line is drawn. For most it would be a living nightmare as we crave social criteria and rules. It generates stability and routine and one person’s strength will benefit another’s weakness.

My main concern is that general life for the common person is becoming dangerously difficult as the standard of living is rising but renumeration is stagnating or going down so one is forced to live beyond their needs.

Its fine for the small percentage who receive seven figure salaries or inherit vast wealth as they are so removed from the real world that hardship seldom visits their homes. Being so detached from everyday life and society leaves these souls with little of no understanding of the struggles and problems faced by the numerous “unwashed” hard workers.

Getting away from this is an aspiration many would like to see become a reality but can’t realise due to fear and uncertainty.

For most we have become slaves to home comforts and technology and the thought of giving that up is abhorrent.

So work it is to pay taxes and to live in a small box and drudge around the hamster wheel of life unless the win of a life time lands on my doorstep.