beancounters: Talents

What a great change, to be the parent of a child that does not need constant monitoring. I sent her along with other family to Sunnyside Lodge for a late lunch. Those of us craving quiet have stayed behind to snooze or read. Or blog about random things that came to us while sunbathing. Heh.

Douglas Adams, in one of his Hitchhikers Guide series (Mostly Harmless?) describes how his protagonist, Arthur Dent, adapts to life on a pre-technology planet. Back on Earth, Arthur worked for BBC Radio; on this new planet, where there is no radio, and thus no need for radio writers, all his job skills are useless. What does he do? He delves into his shallow skill pool and comes up with the only trade he can possibly ply. Arthur becomes the village sandwich-maker.

It’s an implausible situation in a silly book, but every once in a while, I can relate to it. Like here at the cabin.

After three full days here, the family reached that narrow apex of contentment when we idly daydream aloud about living at the cabin forever. Leaving our jobs, selling our houses, and just staying here at this cabin, in Tahoe, the rest of our lives. Nowadays, the Daydream only lasts the space of a morning, but it’s always a pleasant bonding moment over our cereal, playing cards, and newspaper.

As we talk, my mind turns back to Mostly Harmless, to Arthur and his pathetic realization that in his whole adult life, the only skill that transcends the gulf of technology is his dubious sandwich expertise. If I ever uprooted my life and had to fend for myself, what would I turn to? Believe it or not, there isn’t a lot of call for my analytical skills outside my office.

The same goes for the rest of the family, though, make no mistake. We have a politician, an activist, a pilot, several cubicle-dwellers and the rest teachers. Hardly the stuff that could make the easy transition into subsistence living on this cabin property. That’s probably why the fantasy only lasts the space of breakfast-time. It would be wrong to take our daydream to its pragmatic conclusion; that we’d probably have to indenture our own children to pay for our lifestyle.