Dacha

Deep in our hearts we associate green, ecological, reponsible planet-saving behaviour with strict,parsimonious,self-flagellating (metaphorically speaking), severity of life. Going to stay at the newly completed eco house up the hill, I had bought the beds in just this frame of mind. 1930's strength through joy has expressed itself in beds as hard as boards.

Rising woodenly this morning the utter silence was impressive until opening the shutters allowed a rupture in the hermetically sealed indoor environment; if there are layers of glass and insulation to keep in the heat they keep out sound, completely - birdsong, wind, trees, passing fauna, the fountain - being inside looking out is like a silent film, all it needs is a man playing the piano. Listening to the breakfast things being washed-up in the kitchen was not what I'd expected for my first morning's sound track.

It all works: the woodburning boiler for when the solar panels need sunshine; the gravity fed water tanks from springs underground; the ancient Romans would admire the underfloor heating system;the electricity virtually free with an advantageous arrangement with the electricity company; the kitchen garden rampaging with vegetables that can't be eaten fast enough. All that is needed is the collapse of the world as we know it.
'Is this how it will be?'
''Believe in capitalism. In markets and their mechanisms of self-adjustment. It works.'
'What are we doing here then?'
'It's nice for the weekend.'