Vicar living the simple life

[Sunny B]

Did anyone see this on BBC tonight? I missed most of it as I was catching up with last week's Dr Who. Caught the last 10 minutes, it looked like it was a good programme.

[Richard]

Hi,

I saw the Trailer, but have had to work late. Will catch up with it over the weekend - did look interesting.

Richard

[Bollybarb]

I watched it and wondered wether he was one of us!!

It was ok program but left me asking a lot of questions. Like is it morally right to give up money and expect everyone else to support you..........

[Sunny B]

Bollybarb, I think that's been debated on here before. It certainly wouldn't work if everyone tried to do it! Though in the bit I saw, he went to a shop and bartered his tomatoes and some walnuts he'd gathered for bread and milk, and I think bartering is brilliant.
He also said that in years gone by at Harvest Festival the villages would have to tithe 10% of their produce for the vicar, so he'd have been alright then too!

[Mo]

He also said that in years gone by at Harvest Festival the villages would have to tithe 10% of their produce for the vicar, so he'd have been alright then too!

Whether they were Anglican, Methodist or atheist. That tax was so popular that the runt of the littler was know as the 'parson's pig'. He had to have 1 piglet in 10, no-one said which one.

[saint-spoon]

I did watch this last night, not sure what to make of it. Initially I thought that he was trying to copy HFW but it wasn’t like that. The basic concept was that he was going to follow the teachings of St Francis of Assisi and do without cash relying instead on bartering his labour for food and fuel. Obviously he was also doing the river cottage thing and foraging and growing his own.
I did wonder how much he was getting paid to conduct this experiment but on the whole the concept ties in very nicely with the DTL simpler life model IMO. Worth watching and I will make a point of tuning in next week.

[Meanqueen]

I have just watched it, thanks for bringing this to our attention, Sunny. If you missed it, it's here
Vicar living a simple life

I have seen him before when he went to live in a monastry, he's very passionate and puts the message over well.
Ilona

[Bollybarb]

About his fee, it was said in the program that a part was paid to his wife who lived apart from him.

[carolc]

thanks for the link, just watched it and found it enjoyable and quite inspiring, will look out for next one. What day is it on?

[bluebell]

I watched a series of his entitled something like "around the world in 80 faiths" which was very interesting. He comes over as being slightly eccentric, anyway.

I haven't managed to see the programme yet, so cannot comment, but will try and watch it.

[Jane in London]

I've seen Peter Owen Jones in a couple of other things. Although I think he is in many ways a bit of a 'Peter Pan' (I find it hard to remember that he is 52), I feel he is genuine enough in his desire to reconnect to the real and important values in society.

But the programme is, as you might expect, not terribly helpful in practical terms because you only see very limited stuff. And he seems to live in a very forgiving village full of individuals who are willing to go along cheerfully with most things.

It will be interesting to see how he fares when he goes further afield in the next two programmes! Most clergy are pretty good at simple living, of course, because they have to manage on a tiny income and not all of them have Church accommodation these days. So ancient motor vehicles, jumble sale finds and thrifty recipes are all par for the course - just like for us at DTL.

By the way, for those of you who don't already know, Peter Owen Jones was an advertising executive before his ordination, and is the person behind some of the more imaginative C of E advertising campaigns. Clearly quite a complicated personality!

Jane

[Brakersway]

Well, I thouroughly enjoyed that episode.
I genuinely do not believe that you can survive without money. As you cannot barter for electricity etc. Unless of course, you really wanted the simple life and built a mudhut etc.
But I do believe that there is somewhere inbetween what he is trying to do, and modern ideals, that would suffice for most.
I would love for bartering to be more pronounced in our culture too. Like the swap meets in the US. Everyone could meet up somewhere with their produce etc and trade with others, or offer skills for goods.

There has to be a balance, and I for one, would love to find it

[Meanqueen]

I don't think you could live completely without money either, unless you want to live on the streets as a vagrant, depending on others for handouts, even then people would drop a few bob into your tin.

I like the idea of not buying new, but using up all the old first, in furniture, clothes, anything in fact. I read somewhere about a swap day, when you can put your unwanted stuff on the pavement in front of your house on one day of the week, a Monday perhaps, and people can take what they want. Can't remember where it was though. I don't think you should chuck anything away untill it is absolutely broken and useless.
Ilona

[Richard]

Hi,

I caught up with the programme today - very interesting, loads of ifs and buts.

I made a lot of notes and thought I'd do a blog article tomorrow.

I believe the main thing is that 'being paid' is the same, be it cash or goods in kind.

Richard

[Richard]

For all it's worth, I've written this....

http://www.downthelane.net/extras/2010/05/12/livinga-simple-life/

Richard