Stopped at the pub in Hawkshead for a beer and to recalibrate our routes and destinations. Had to enter it. Kings Arms. Not just because it's 500 years old, and offers free strong wifi for a pint. The cheeky sign also randomly stated "I wandered lonely as a cloud, then I thought sod it! I'll have a pint instead..." Hahahhaa. Yeah!
And purchased a copy of The Spectator at the store next door to flip through Clarissa Tan's article 'Can you switch off?' Our answer is a resolute NO, CANNOT!
We secured UK cellphone numbers not so much for the voice calls, but for the data allocation. In addition to printed maps, the in-built car GPS functions great in tandem with our phones' maps. GPS is a necessity here when we're driving through Cumbria. Bigger towns, little lanes, country roads and all. Need to know where to go, and uhh...google for food reviews. The food out here is spectacular. Almost on par with the scenery. The freshness, the sweetness of real food sourced right next door.
Work is put aside, of course. But social media? Not really. While we don't bother keeping up with the top of the news for these 2 weeks (London is different; we keep up and try to catch up with whatever news first thing in the morning. That's like...no different from being at home), we would like to still be in the know of what's happening. Switching off is unfathomable to us. What for? It doesn't bother me. There isn't any social media fatigue in that way. Simply hop into profiles of people I care about. The others, I stalk at leisure. Muahahahahah. I jest! We control how much information we want to absorb, or what appears on our feeds and timelines.
We can switch off for a couple of hours each day, that is, to leave our gadgets in our bags and not touch it, especially while we walk. Sometimes, we slow down while driving round the bends to admire the panorama that would suddenly open up. Those hours, I often don't even bother whipping out the camera. It's gorgeous, and best remembered by staring and absorbing all of it for the memories to hold dear.
4 comments:
I feel the same. I actually slept earlier with sucky 2G internet when I was in Indonesia. And I didn't even feel the urge to check my social media channels.
Trying to emulate this habit in Singapore is tough though!
I can switch off in SG if I want to! But I don't want to! Heh.
The power is in our hands. But damn it's hard not to get screen-sucked.
heh!
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