Can Modern Life Sometimes Be a Bit Too Convenient ?

[Richard Hakluyt]

That would be my experience too, having a hot bath is the redeeming feature of returning from a camping holiday back to the daily grind.

[alfred russel]

Anyone who thinks modern life is too convienient should spend a couple of weeks at my parent's cottage (US: "cabin").

No effete modern conveiniences there - if you want heat, you chop firewood; if you want water, you pump it by hand into a bucket and carry the bucket up the hill to the cottage. If you want light, you pour kerosene into a lamp, carefully adjust the mantle, and light it, keeping an eye on the mantle so it does not carbonize and burn the place down. If you want to go to the toilet at night, you use a chamber pot (which then needs washing the next day) or walk in the dark to the outhouse. If you want a bath, there is the lake. For vegitables, there is a small gardan, requiring work to maintain.

It is amazing how much of one's time is spent simply arranging to exist.

It is my dad's notion of paradise, but not really mine  ... though the setting makes up for the primitive facilities.

I've taken some remote hiking holidays in places like that. Let me tell you, watching the hired help struggling with the elements to keep us comfortable and carrying our gear, really brings home conveniences of the modern world.

[Tamas]

Anyone who thinks modern life is too convienient should spend a couple of weeks at my parent's cottage (US: "cabin").

No effete modern conveiniences there - if you want heat, you chop firewood; if you want water, you pump it by hand into a bucket and carry the bucket up the hill to the cottage. If you want light, you pour kerosene into a lamp, carefully adjust the mantle, and light it, keeping an eye on the mantle so it does not carbonize and burn the place down. If you want to go to the toilet at night, you use a chamber pot (which then needs washing the next day) or walk in the dark to the outhouse. If you want a bath, there is the lake. For vegitables, there is a small gardan, requiring work to maintain.

It is amazing how much of one's time is spent simply arranging to exist.

It is my dad's notion of paradise, but not really mine  ... though the setting makes up for the primitive facilities.

I've taken some remote hiking holidays in places like that. Let me tell you, watching the hired help struggling with the elements to keep us comfortable and carrying our gear, really brings home conveniences of the modern world.

Yeah. Quite frankly, anybody who thinks what we have is TOO convenient have no real grasp of what non-convenient life means.

[mongers]

Anyone who thinks modern life is too convienient should spend a couple of weeks at my parent's cottage (US: "cabin").

No effete modern conveiniences there - if you want heat, you chop firewood; if you want water, you pump it by hand into a bucket and carry the bucket up the hill to the cottage. If you want light, you pour kerosene into a lamp, carefully adjust the mantle, and light it, keeping an eye on the mantle so it does not carbonize and burn the place down. If you want to go to the toilet at night, you use a chamber pot (which then needs washing the next day) or walk in the dark to the outhouse. If you want a bath, there is the lake. For vegitables, there is a small gardan, requiring work to maintain.

It is amazing how much of one's time is spent simply arranging to exist.

It is my dad's notion of paradise, but not really mine  ... though the setting makes up for the primitive facilities.

I've taken some remote hiking holidays in places like that. Let me tell you, watching the hired help struggling with the elements to keep us comfortable and carrying our gear, really brings home conveniences of the modern world.

Yeah. Quite frankly, anybody who thinks what we have is TOO convenient have no real grasp of what non-convenient life means.

You love your blanket statements don't you.

[Sheilbh]

Commie

[Malthus]

Anyone who thinks modern life is too convienient should spend a couple of weeks at my parent's cottage (US: "cabin").

No effete modern conveiniences there - if you want heat, you chop firewood; if you want water, you pump it by hand into a bucket and carry the bucket up the hill to the cottage. If you want light, you pour kerosene into a lamp, carefully adjust the mantle, and light it, keeping an eye on the mantle so it does not carbonize and burn the place down. If you want to go to the toilet at night, you use a chamber pot (which then needs washing the next day) or walk in the dark to the outhouse. If you want a bath, there is the lake. For vegitables, there is a small gardan, requiring work to maintain.

It is amazing how much of one's time is spent simply arranging to exist.

It is my dad's notion of paradise, but not really mine  ... though the setting makes up for the primitive facilities.

I've taken some remote hiking holidays in places like that. Let me tell you, watching the hired help struggling with the elements to keep us comfortable and carrying our gear, really brings home conveniences of the modern world.

[Phillip V]

So my question is, do you find any aspects of modern life, just a bit too convenient ?

No. Plenty more conveniences to be had and invented. I still wipe my own ass.

[Caliga]

my parent's cottage (US: "cabin").

[Syt]

Anyone who thinks modern life is too convienient should spend a couple of weeks at my parent's cottage (US: "cabin").

No effete modern conveiniences there - if you want heat, you chop firewood; if you want water, you pump it by hand into a bucket and carry the bucket up the hill to the cottage. If you want light, you pour kerosene into a lamp, carefully adjust the mantle, and light it, keeping an eye on the mantle so it does not carbonize and burn the place down. If you want to go to the toilet at night, you use a chamber pot (which then needs washing the next day) or walk in the dark to the outhouse. If you want a bath, there is the lake. For vegitables, there is a small gardan, requiring work to maintain.

It is amazing how much of one's time is spent simply arranging to exist.

It is my dad's notion of paradise, but not really mine  ... though the setting makes up for the primitive facilities.

I've taken some remote hiking holidays in places like that. Let me tell you, watching the hired help struggling with the elements to keep us comfortable and carrying our gear, really brings home conveniences of the modern world.

Ok, Niles.

[Tamas]

Anyone who thinks modern life is too convienient should spend a couple of weeks at my parent's cottage (US: "cabin").

No effete modern conveiniences there - if you want heat, you chop firewood; if you want water, you pump it by hand into a bucket and carry the bucket up the hill to the cottage. If you want light, you pour kerosene into a lamp, carefully adjust the mantle, and light it, keeping an eye on the mantle so it does not carbonize and burn the place down. If you want to go to the toilet at night, you use a chamber pot (which then needs washing the next day) or walk in the dark to the outhouse. If you want a bath, there is the lake. For vegitables, there is a small gardan, requiring work to maintain.

It is amazing how much of one's time is spent simply arranging to exist.

It is my dad's notion of paradise, but not really mine  ... though the setting makes up for the primitive facilities.

I've taken some remote hiking holidays in places like that. Let me tell you, watching the hired help struggling with the elements to keep us comfortable and carrying our gear, really brings home conveniences of the modern world.

Yeah. Quite frankly, anybody who thinks what we have is TOO convenient have no real grasp of what non-convenient life means.

You love your blanket statements don't you.

They make life nice and easy

[Malthus]

You love your blanket statements don't you.

They make life nice and easy

Some good zingers in this thread ...

[Norgy]

I was just about to say that a lot of touristic activities support mongers' hypothesis 

A fortnight at the cabin would be just about perfect to remind one of modern conveniences.

Yes. No hot water, outdoor toilet, wood stove. It's fun for three days.

[Admiral Yi]

I vote for flush toilet over hot water.

[PDH]

No way, you want the hot water beside the toilet, not under the toilet.

[garbon]

I was just about to say that a lot of touristic activities support mongers' hypothesis 

A fortnight at the cabin would be just about perfect to remind one of modern conveniences.

Yes. No hot water, outdoor toilet, wood stove. It's fun for three days.

If you find yourself trapped in the middle of the woods without electricity, running water, or a car you would likely describe that situation as a "nightmare" or "a worse case scenario like after plane crash or something." White people refer to it as "camping."