Shepherd Island Discs

Umbagong Park

Today I went for a walk, as I often do in the later afternoons and evenings. The clocks go back tomorrow, so there will be fewer opportunities to get out in the coming months. My knees don't like to run anymore but I still love to get out in the fresh air, and I usually listen to podcasts as I walk around the parks and back roads.

Desert Island Discs is one of my favourite podcasts, and today, as the sun lowered towards the horizon and inflamed the branches of the autumn trees I listened to an episode from a couple of months ago featuring James Rebanks, Shepherd and Writer. He mainly talked about Herdwick sheep, The Lake District, and farming in general, as you would expect. I like these things, and he was erudite and interesting about them, his family, and the education he embarked upon later in life. 

He had sound musical choices (by which I mean I liked them all, apart from Johnny Cash). He chose tracks by Kirsty MacColl, Nina Simone, Pulp, and Billy Bragg & Wilco. I was a bit disappointed that he chose Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea as his book and said that he didn't really want The Bible or the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. He claims to be a writer, so surely even if he has no interest in religion or sixteenth-century drama, he can appreciate the stories and the storytelling within these literary canons. 

What really stood out for me in the program, however, was a throwaway comment that he made. He said he had read somewhere that the average British child today spends less time outdoors than the average prisoner. I looked into this when I got back indoors and found a survey from 2016 which seems to verify this. I was shocked. 

I love being outdoors and I did as a kid. Climbing trees, riding my bike, playing a peculiar version of badminton, walking by the river, even just sitting on the grass and making daisy chains are some of my favourite childhood memories, and the basis of some of my earliest friendships. Being outdoors and breathing fresh air restores my mental and physical health. I know that some places are too polluted to enjoy these environmental benefits and that I am lucky to live where I do. 

And yet, it's true that I rarely see young folk playing outside, despite the beautiful scenery, parks and open spaces that make up this Bush Capital of Canberra. My walk takes me past this rather odd sculpture of a group of kids playing football. They are regularly given different shirts to wear, dressed up warmly in winter, and treated to Santa hats at Christmas time. People obviously care about them and in some strange way want to incorporate outdoor play into their community. Sadly, these motionless mannequins are displaying way more activity than most young people today.