Detoxification
In the Casa Pologoda villa near Carvoeiro there was a 55 inch TV screen with instructions about how to access various extra channels. However, I am pleased to say that it was never turned on. Nobody wanted or needed that distraction - even Little Phoebe who is often in the habit of whining, "I want to watch something!" Apart from not watching any television I also avoided being on the internet entirely. No blogging. No BBC News. No e-mails or Google. I was completely off-line. Of course the others all had their smartphones which they accessed every day but not me, nor Phoebe and the babies. It felt good to detoxify. Most of us spend far too much of our lives looking at screens and I am not at all sure that this is good for our health - either mental or physical. Arguably, we become smaller, less significant beings when big chunks of our days and nights are devoted to screens. What is it doing to our brains? A little Googling led me to some interesting numbers. The averag...