Slow down

I’ve become interested in the slow movement over the last year or two, as I often struggle to justify and see the real core benefits of the extraordinary pace of urban life these days. Quite regularly it feels like the wheels could fall off at any given moment.

With this in mind, it was good to have an article from the excellent online ‘zine Worldchanging bounced over to me via Twitter flagging a book by Carl Honoré, In Praise of Slow…something I have to check out.

There’s another site you might want to visit that focuses on the SlowHome. Lots of interesting bits about healthy vibrant neighbo(u)rhood, beautiful eco design and architecture.

In a not entirely unrelated piece in London’s throwaway freebie commuter rag this morning , the METRO listed Michael Pollan’s In Defense Of Food as one of it’s Food Books of the Year. Although I can’t say it’s a maxim I’ve wholeheartedly adopted yet, Pollan’s

“Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants”

mantra has a lot to be said for it. Maybe a good New Year Resolution for me.

Also, anyone who champions the idea of leisurely meals in the company of friends as the way forward gets my vote!

Grand

There aren't many TV shows that will grab my attention so much that I'll make a point of sitting down and watching beginning to end, but there's something about Grand Designs that I really love.

Tonight a new series started it was one of those classics where everything looked like it was going to fail almost from the off, but the final end product was a triumph.

Catch it if you can...