Olly Buckle
Creators and consumers
by , July 20th, 2017 at 11:27 AM (2902 Views)
Radio four was asking people to phone in and tell them which sort of person they were; the sort who spent their money on things, or the sort who spent it on experiences. This is a question for the consumers of our age. No-one was phoning in saying, ‘Actually I spend every penny on the bare essentials of life and I am still falling behind.’ probably because they can’t spare the time from their below minimum wage, zero hours, sub-contract, job. Too busy cleaning a hospital and they can’t afford the phone call.
That, of course, is only one approach to the dichotomy posed, which, like most dichotomies is quite false. I did not get the opportunity to listen to much of the programme, but I expected someone pointed out they had bought some thing which enabled experience; ‘We bought ourselves a camper van and are exploring the costal path.’, but there are usually more than two possibilities.
The framing of the question directs it towards consumers; consumers of experiences and consumers of goods, what about creatives? Painters are notoriously poor they spend their time creating rather than earning, and spend what money they have on expensive pigments, paints and canvases. I guess as artists go writers are relatively well off, we don’t need things, a Stradivarius, a concert hall, or a huge chunk of marble to carve, but we do need opportunity, money buys us time.
I regard gardening as a form of creation, as well as writing. When I make money I am making the opportunity to indulge myself. Neither is very expensive in terms of the materials needed, well gardening can be, but not the way I practice it. With slips of plants from friends and growing from seed I actually make it pay me more than it costs, when I did other people’s gardens I was in them whilst the owners were off making the money to pay me. Sometimes I almost felt guilty. Perhaps one day writing will do the same, and a ‘Read for the Train’ will be read on the train whilst I create. Both my creative hobbies are dear in terms of time, and on the whole it is time that any surplus cash buys me.
The exception to that is spending money on myself, my own body, I don’t stint when it comes to good, food, or dentists and opticians, though I am a miser when it comes to clothes, warm and covering is sufficient, I really don’t give a damn about fashion.
Go to Profile
Mark as Read
