Connecting with nature sadly just a pipe dream

Iwent to see the film Leave No Trace at the weekend. It is a beautiful story of a father and daughter living happily in a forest until the authorities intervene and try to “help” them live a more conventional life.

Mr P wanted to see the film because he had heard Mark Kermode raving about it on the radio. I wanted to see it because I have become unhealthily fixated on the idea of living off the grid.

Some might say I’m nearly there already, as I don’t do social media and am woefully low-tech. I need to use email for work purposes, but other than that, am happiest when out of the exhausting whirl of constantly checking in and following what other people are having for their tea.

Lately I’ve been reading books where people have gone all survivalist, shunning modern society and living off the land. I’ve even read a few memoirs, such as Educated by Tara Westover, where fundamentalist parents, convinced the end of the world is nigh, don’t let their children go to school or even engage with other people. How interesting, I thought.

I realise I may be getting carried away by travel features which extol the virtues of holidaying in places with no internet or telephone access (“Just reconnecting with ourselves and nature…Bliss”) but surely it’s worth a try?

On the downside, my regular reader will be aware that I do not have a great affinity with nature. I am scared of just about everything in the great outdoors, which would not make for a comfortable night sleeping beneath the stars, lovely as it sounds. I wonder if it’s possible to live off the grid, but with a weekly delivery of groceries?

Also, although I like the idea of being alone with my own thoughts, any time I have been I have started to go full-on bonkers after about three days. Hmm, I may have to rethink this off the grid fantasy. I can highly recommend the film though.