I’ve been absolutely flat out with work for the last few weeks. Without a moment to really breathe let alone trawl through my reader; I have completely fallen behind the times – especially current affairs.
This evening, whilst finally taking a moment for myself, I managed to watch the inauguration speech from Tuesday, hear even more media hype about how Britain is spiralling into even deeper economic disaster and that Mark Boyle from near Bath is about to undertake living for a year without cash.
The speech was brilliantly but brutally pessimistic, apparently Britain’s economy is completely fucked, and Boyle isn’t living cashlessly as I am but instead he is living entirely without money… certainly a brave step beyond my current efforts!
He says he has arranged with a friend to pay his National Insurance for him and Mark also plans to rummage through skips and other people’s rubbish to survive. He’ll also make use of a scheme called Freecycle, the good ol’ online network of recycling enthusiasts and new-age urban environmentalists that includes a great number of my former housemates; and Freeconomy which is another online network – enabling people to swap skills
Whilst emulating the 1970’s hit TV show, The Good Life, I fear Mark Boyle lacks some of Felicity Kendal’s aesthetic and femininity; something, I have learnt, will make the awkward transition between not doing something and doing something much, much easier.
None-the-less, I wish Mark the very best of luck in living without money at all for a year. In light of our recent economic predicament, this seems like as good a year as any!
Losing Face 