Depression or liberation?

I continue to plough through depressing economic predictions and it is hard to see how the 'big world' of finance can recover quickly. But there are cheering signs of how people are coping.

From my travels around Britain I had a strong sense that lots of people were getting bored with endless shopping, but it was difficult for them to talk about it. The discussion was all about designer this and that. It was all about leveraging assets, to save was to be foolish.

Interest in growing your own food was rising. Gardens and allotments were full of fruit and veg. Allotments were attracting a new generations of growers (albeit sometimes leading to different views of the traditional allotment holders). Today I hear that sales of sewing machines are booming and classes teaching people to knit and sew are filling up quickly. So it looks as if the economic future might be gloomy, but even so people might be able to have a good time on a budget.

After all, it is the people who matter most. It was interesting to watch how London changed in the snow.Everyone was forced to slow down, and suddenly people started to chat. The lack of public transport meant there were more people walking and chatting. It's largely back to 'normal' now, and most are plugged into their ipods once more.But for a day it was fun.