The importance of good knives

Or any tools for that matter...

[Lire en Fran?ais ici] - or listen to me narrating by clicking here!

Remember how many times I said I should really slow down and get to know an area instead of just passing through ? I am happy to report that I did find a way to do just that which works with my minimalist lifestyle ! House sitting ! Or living in other people’s houses for free. And making new animal and human friends.

What does that have to do with knives ? You’ll see.

So no, I haven’t started a new business. I discovered that you can travel the world in exchange for looking after people’s houses and pets (or plants) while they go away on holiday. There is a site called Trusted House Sitters on which you register, choose your desired destination and dates, and see if that matches with home-owners looking for sitters.

It all started out last summer when I stayed in my sister’s house, to look after the dog, rabbit and cat while they all went away to the hot part of the country for the school break. I found that being in one place for a couple of weeks allowed me to focus on my work, writing, and centering myself for a while. Then it all kind of snowballed. On my way in to Bretagne my aunt in Jersey said, well, since you’re in the area… and I spent three weeks on the island last February looking after their adorable cockapoodle. While Gus stood bogged down in a Breton garden. But that’s another story.. South African friends in France heard of what I was doing and wondered out loud if I may be heading in their direction. Which decided me to do just that. And so here I am spending my second European winter in the southwest of France, where the sun shines more often than not, happily looking after an assortment of houses, farms, animals and birds..

I make sure that Gus doesn’t get bogged down anymore, and I’m sure he’s happy to be still for a while - after all, he spent the beginning of life only going away for short holidays, so this constant driving around I’ve been subjecting him to must be quite stressful. Well yes, in fact it is, for now he’s developed some sort of arthritis in his right front wheel, causing some increase in his diesel consumption, which I really have to get looked at.

Which brings me to the importance of good knives. If Gus wasn’t a Fiat Ducato at heart, I suspect this little mechanical issue would not be the first that I’d have had to have attended to. I may have a pretty good understanding of how an engine works and how it propulses me into the future, but I have no idea how to fix anything that may go wrong… So when I did my research for finding Gus, I paid a whole lot of attention to which motor was the most reliable for a home on wheels. So far so good.

Today I am living in a gorgeous, renovated country house with underfloor heating and superb fireplaces and a cute old tomcat and a fabulous kitchen. The neighbours have been really lovely and invited me for dinner with some of their friends. I offered to contribute a dish of roast butternut, because my dear friend Rosemary, whose two horses, four chickens, three dogs and two cats I looked after in October, gave me a load of butternuts before I left, and I just love making roast vegetables. But I discovered that this fantastic kitchen has appalling knives. Or else the good ones have been stowed away somewhere… You just can’t cut butternuts into cubes with blunt knives. You just can’t. That’s one of the first things I acquired for my mobile kitchen, a set of great sharp knives. A big one for the big jobs, a small one for paring and delicate work, and a medium one for everything in between.

It took me a while in my life as a grown-up to work out that if you want things to last or work properly and cause you the least stress, you need to get the good ones. Sounds obvious doesn’t it ? A pity that the price tag so easily influences one’s decisions. You pay more in the long run with that attitude. It honestly takes a good mind bending to change your way of thinking sometimes.

And when I started working as a voice artist I also figured out pretty quickly that if I didn’t get really good and perfect my craft with constant practice and coaching and position myself in a higher league I would be subjected to clients who took advantage of my lack of self-respect and suffer no end of stress.

You could also be a bad house-sitter and take advantage of the free accommodation, but then you’d get bad reviews and wouldn’t be invited to stay anymore. So it pays to look after your host’s house and pets better than you would your own. And that way you’ll make lifelong friends too !

So, good knives: what I’m trying to say is that it’s important for one’s sanity to have them, but also to be them. Be like the good knives.

I write this blog because I love writing, and so that my friends and family around the world can follow my adventures. If we've just met on the road or online, go ahead and subscribe here so that the next episode lands straight in your mailbox. Also, I write in both English and French, so you can follow both if you want to practice the language, but if you don't, feel free to unsubscribe from either. If you know someone who needs a little inspiration, share one of my articles with them!

Audio version music credit: Ben Bert @benxbert

Graphic Design: Jo Bert @josuppose