Lifestyles!

Much is made nowadays of ways of organising our lives; fashions in how to go about it come and go. We’ve had fengshui telling us how to arrange our furniture, not for the best aesthetic effect but for the best peace of mind effect. There is Marie Kondo, at least I think that is her name, urging us all to declutter. For a while it was all about hygge, the Scandinavian philosophy all about cosiness and conviviality with feelings of  “wellness and contentment”, if I am not mistaken. And of course, mindfulness is everywhere. (Mind you, if mindfulness is truly everywhere, why are so many people being completely thoughtless in the way they go about life in general.)

And now along comes “niksen”. According to a journalist called Stuart Heritage, “Niksen is an increasingly popular Dutch relaxation technique where you relinquish control and just ... stop.
When thoughts occur, you don’t interrogate them or imagine them being carried away on balloons, you just let them occur. At a time when meditative practices can feel like yet another thing to do, niksen is liberatingly simple. Stop doing everything right now. Congratulations, you just did a niksen. It is essentially sanctioned daydreaming.”

His editor asked him to give it a try, so that he could then write an article about it, I suppose. He found it difficult. Told to sit down for an hour and do nothing, absolutely nothing, he was initially quite pleased but his opinion changed:-

“There was a freedom to it, a tranquillity. We are all so busy doing as much stuff as we can that to suddenly stop felt preposterously luxurious. Or at least it did for about 30 seconds, because that was when the thoughts started to trickle in. I was staring out of my window, but I was seeing the dozens of unread emails that were almost certainly piling up in my inbox. I was nagged by the sinkful of washing up that needed doing and the bin that needed to be taken out. I thought about the podcasts I could be listening to. Shamefully, I found myself wondering if anyone had written any good tweets.

In the end, I managed 10 minutes of niksen before my brain stopped idling and told me to stop being such a layabout.”

Perhaps we are all hardwired to be busy, and connected, all the time, especially now that we are digitally in touch instantly. It’s no accident, I’m sure, that “Linkedin” is so called.

I was going to say that personally I have no trouble with doing nothing but it’s not really the case. Like everyone else, I find or indeed invent things to keep me occupied. So I’m not convinced about “niksen” as a relaxation technique, especially when you are trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep!

One of our regular cafes-with-wifi here is about to close. We went along the other evening only to find that could no longer check our stuff there. They have not renewed as they are closing at the end of the month.

So yesterday we investigated one of their competitors, a place that seems very popular with locals for lunch. At the end of a walk to A Guía and back we stopped off for refreshment, intending to ask about wifi. One look at the interior dissuaded us - dingy and dull, not the sort of place where you might want to sit for a while checking your email and reading the papers online.

Fortunately we have other possibilities. Just along the street from our flat is the Cafe Caruso. Several years ago I popped in there to ask if they had  wifi,  only to be told by the lady who runs the place, Filipina I think, “Ni sé lo que es (I don’t even know what it is.)”

Since then she found out what it is and went online, but last year, maybe not seeing much increase in custom, she stopped. A few days ago I saw her coming out of the supermarket. She went out of her way to tell me, “Ya tengo wifi otra vez”. So now we have a place to go when we don’t want to go further afield.

We avoid the Caruso as lunchtime approaches for the unpleasant smell of hot cooking fat pervades the place then. At other times of day, though, it is fine for a quick coffee. And the Filipina lady is friendly and admires photos of our grandchildren!

There you go!

Some of her customers, the ones who smoke, have a tendency to stand too close to the door when supposedly indulging their vice outside. Maybe all Spanish cafes, and British pubs for that matter, should adopt this idea which I read about the other day:-

 “Smoking is set to be banned on the outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants in Catalonia as well as in bus shelters and on train platforms, under proposals from the region’s health authority.
The ban would also extend to open-air sports facilities and inside cars. The proposed changes, which could come into force within a year, are certain to meet fierce resistance from the hospitality industry.”

 It sounds like a good idea to me. I enjoy sitting on the terraza but it can be a less than pleasant experience if there are too many smokers around. Ironically, the terrace to be a place where you could avoid cigarette smoke!

The article about smoking in Catalonia went on:-

 “Ever since smoking was banned indoors, the number of venues with outdoor spaces has grown , with terraces serving as de-facto smoking areas making them no-go zones for anyone who does not want to breathe in second-hand smoke while enjoying a beer or a coffee. Bar and restaurant owners in Barcelona are already at war with the city authorities, who claim that many of the terraces are illegal and occupy too much public space.

At present, smoking is permitted only on terraces that are entirely or mostly in the open air. However, the health authorities claim the law is frequently flouted in enclosed outdoor spaces and plans a series of inspections. At a national level, the Spanish government is considering raisingthe  price of tobacco and banning smoking in cars when children are passengers.

A packet of 20 cigarettes costs less than €5 (£4.50) in Spain compared with about £12 in the UK. The number of smokers in Spain has fallen to about 22%, according to Eurostatto, above the EU average of 18% and well above the UK on 13%. If they are introduced, the new regulations would be similar to those in force in the Canadian province of Quebec, where it is prohibited to smoke within nine metres (30ft) of any building that is open to the public.” Interesting ideas!Shamefully, I found myself wondering if anyone had written any good tweets. In the end, I managed 10 minutes of niksen before my brain stopped idling and told me to stop being such a layabout.”

Perhaps we are all hardwired to be busy, and connected, all the time, especially now that we are digitally in touch instantly. It’s no accident, I’m sure, that “Linkedin” is so called. I was going to say that personally I have no trouble with doing nothing but it’s not really the case. Like everyone else, I find or indeed invent things to keep me occupied. So I’m not convinced about “niksen” as a relaxation technique, especially when you are trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep! One of our regular cafes with wifi here is about to close. We went along the other evening only to find that could no longer check our stuff there. They have not renewed as they are closing at the end of the month. So yesterday we investigated on of their competitors, a place that seems very popular with locals for lunch.

At the end of a walk to A Guía and back we stopped off for refreshment, intending to ask about wifi. One look at the interior dissuaded us - dingy and dull, not the sort of place where you might want to sit for a while checking your email and reading the papers online. Fortunately we have other possibilities. Just along the street from our flat is the Caruso. Several years ago I popped in there to ask if they had wifi, only to be told by the lady who runs the place, Filipina I think, “Ni sé lo que es (I don’t even know what it is.)” Since then she found out and went online but last year, maybe not seeing much increase in custom, she stopped. A few days ago I saw her coming out of the supermarket. She went out of her way to tell me, “Ya tengo wifi otra vez”.

So now we have a place to go when we don’t want to go further afield. We avoid the Caruso as lunchtime approaches for the unpleasant smell of hot cooking fat pervades the place then. At other times of day, though, it is fine for a quick coffee. And the Filipina lady is friendly and admires photos of our grandchildren!

There you go!

Some of her customers, the ones who smoke, have a tendency to stand too close to the door when supposedly indulging their vice outside.

Maybe all Spanish cafes, and British pubs for that matter, should adopt this idea which I read about the other day:-

 “Smoking is set to be banned on the outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants in Catalonia as well as in bus shelters and on train platforms, under proposals from the region’s health authority. The ban would also extend to open-air sports facilities and inside cars. The proposed changes, which could come into force within a year, are certain to meet fierce resistance from the hospitality industry.”

 It sounds like a good idea to me. I enjoy sitting on the terraza but it can be a less than pleasant experience if there are too many smokers around. Ironically, the terrace to be a place where you could avoid cigarette smoke!

The article about smoking in Catalonia went on:-

 “Ever since smoking was banned indoors, the number of venues with outdoor spaces has grown , with terraces serving as de-facto smoking areas making them no-go zones for anyone who does not want to breathe in second-hand smoke while enjoying a beer or a coffee.

Bar and restaurant owners in Barcelona are already at war with the city authorities, who claim that many of the terraces are illegal and occupy too much public space. At present, smoking is permitted only on terraces that are entirely or mostly in the open air. However, the health authorities claim the law is frequently flouted in enclosed outdoor spaces and plans a series of inspections.

At a national level, the Spanish government is considering raising the price of tobacco and banning smoking in cars when children are passengers. A packet of 20 cigarettes costs less than €5 (£4.50) in Spain compared with about £12 in the UK. The number of smokers in Spain has fallen to about 22%, according to Eurostat, above the EU average of 18% and well above the UK on 13%.

 If they are introduced, the new regulations would be similar to those in force in the Canadian province of Québec, where it is prohibited to smoke within nine metres (30ft) of any building that is open to the public.”

 Interesting ideas!