Travel imparts new vigour to the mind

Thus spake Seneca. A very long time ago.

I'm not sure that Seneca spent a lot of time driving along the M25 on a Friday afternoon. (Actually, the haunted expression on his face might suggest otherwise.)

The word 'driving' is something of a euphemism which might be replaced by crawling, juddering or hardly moving at all.

I had a great set of meetings yesterday at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. For someone who spends much of her time on her own at home in front of a computer, to travel away from home, to meet new people, to talk instead of e-mailing truly DOES impart new vigour to the mind.

Except for the journey home along the M25!

'No-one realises how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old familiar pillow,' said Lin Yutang.

To me, the best bit of going out is coming home. Not coming home, no, not the journey. The arriving.

"The scamp will be the last and most formidable enemy of dictatorships. "

"He will be the champion of human dignity and individual freedom, and will be the last to be conquered. All modern civilization depends entirely upon him."


Hoorah for Lin Yutang! I told you he was my new favourite philosopher of the day yesterday and he still is today so he MUST be good. Generally I change allegiance to philosophers like other people change their socks.

Hoorah for scamps everywhere, as well!


Ooops, wrong sort of scamp. Although he looks quite cheeky in a crustacean sort of way.

 Not that I'm living in a dictatorship. It's just that these days there seem to be so many rules, so much bureaucracy, so much that could be simple that is made complex by power-crazed petty officials...

I think everyone could do with a little bit of scamp in their personality. Life would be so much less DULL.

See, Enid Blyton even wrote a book about it.

...though Caroline's an unusual name for a dog.

Well, on with the serious business of being a scamp...someone has to do it.

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone

"The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials."

My new best philosopher discovery of today - Lin Yutang. (A philosopher a day keeps the doctor away?)

 I was thinking about inefficiency - after a bit of a 'discussion' this weekend with Peter about how much I earn. For the word 'much' insert the word 'little.'

 For the word 'candy' insert 'sweets.' After all I am BRITISH!

The fact of the matter is that I spend a lot of time writing...and to me, writing equals working...BUT...can I consider it to be work when so much of it is unpaid? Like writing this blog, for example.

Reality check. I spend 6-8 hours a day writing. Usually, 3 hours of that is paid.

Consider this:  I am...

"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all" - says Peter Drucker.

And this.

"Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things" - says Zig Zigler

 Hmmmmmm...

I have been timing myself. I thought about this blog while turning out the horses, as usual. I started writing it at 10.09, I finished writing it and finding the images at 10.28.

I think that's efficient. But is it effective?

Oh, who cares?