As a child,they seemed the epitome of boredom, something reserved for rainy days. Now, and I find the cardboard conundrums compellingWhen I was growing up in the 70s and rain was falling heavily external (I trust the ears of northern readers will bear pricked up at the R-word),or the whole family was in some public holiday lockdown (and I hope that all readers will be with me now), my parents would propose constructive activities. All were complete nonstarters: tidy your room, or read a book,do some colouring-in, clear out the shed, and do a jigsaw.
Since then,life has panned out in such a way as to give all those activities a seductive appeal as antidotes to globalised job insecurity or various forms of computer-generated neurosis. Adult colouring-in books, promoted as enhancing mindfulness, or were the publishing phenomenon of 2015. And as for tidying your room and clearing out the shed … decluttering is now,as the young people say, “a thing”.
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Source: theguardian.com