by Barry Williams

Created on: February 04, 2009

I am trying to work out just how simple a life I could live. There is a acronym K.I.S.S. Most of you who now spend ninety percent of your time sending text messages would be well aware that it stands for keep it simple stupid. Obviously K.I.S.S was unknown when the inventors of video recorders and now DVD recorders wrote the instruction book on how to set the timer for recording. L.O.L. for those who send text messages.

I have always imagined living on island with just a few other people for company. To keep life simple as possible no electricity would be available. That would immediately do away with frustrating manuals for anything electrical. Actually Bill Gates could bring out several updates of windows and I wouldn't care less. If I did decide to visit the mainland just to keep in touch after a few years maybe the windows update by then would be free of add ons which seem to plague every version update. When I think about the amount of money I have spent on electrical items and repair bills plus the cost of electricity the idea of no electricity starts to appeal to me.

So let's live in a hut on a island with no electricity. That would make me rely on canned foods as there would be no refrigerator. My heating would come from wood stove which would provide me with a source of hot water and for cooking purposes. A large copper tub which I believe was actually called a copper would provide a means of washing clothes . Now clothes would only be worn when necessary. I imagine to keep things simple most times I would be nude. Clothes would be drip dry and non iron.

I suppose since I don't have electricity I wouldn't have a television set. Entertainment might be a problem when you are sitting alone in the nude at night with just a candle for illumination. There is just so much you can do with making shadow pictures on the walls. I suppose I could allow a radio. After all I do need to have contact with the outside world.

Now contact with the outside world raises a problem if I were to get sick. Keeping my life simple I would have no telephone. I wouldn't be able to have a cell phone because without electricity I wouldn't be able to charge the battery. The only solution I see is to study to be a doctor by correspondence reading by candle light at night if necessary. That would at least give me something to do at night. Home surgery might be a bit of a problem. I might have to learn needle craft as well.

With all the manual labor I probably wouldn't get sick anyway. Without a car I would have to walk everywhere especially to collect wood for the stove. By chopping the wood I would soon develop muscles and a healthy trim figure.I might even grow my own fruit and vegetables and maybe get a cow for fresh milk . I could be self sufficient if I made a hen house and hen yard. The possibilities of a simple life would mean new challenges every day. Just to survive itself would be a challenge.

Critics , it seems are everywhere. My wife read my article and told me I was nuts.

"Why would you want to live like people did a hundred years ago?" she exclaimed." Why would you want to study in the nude to be a doctor? You were flat out graduating from high school. The whole thing is absurd. Think about something else to write about or simply start again"

Most time I listen to my wife but this time ,as you can see, I chose to leave this article the way it now appears. My wife did like the inclusion of the acronym, especially the last word ," stupid" I suppose living a simple life would be easy for some people if it wasn't for women in their lives.

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