RANDOM EVENINGS
3 August 2006

If I were an anthropologist I would conduct a survey on a topic that has interested me for many years. Ever since I was about 12 years old and I was walking my dog in the neighbourhood, open curtains invited me to try to look inside peoples' houses. Well, since I was just passing by it was no criminal offence. It was more of a study: What are people doing in their houses at a random time, on a random weekday evening?

My guess is that at 9pm on a Wednesday evening (the average person between 25 and 65 in the average city who is inside): 10% clean up after dinner; 10% chat with friend/s/partner; 10% are on the phone; 20% are on the Internet; 40% watch TV and 10% lie on the bed doing whatever.
I would welcome views on this.

After all, it is the time in the evening that is free for most people. It is when we can do what we want, it is the time we look forward to during the working day. And there are so many things one can do - even if it is just inside your own house. You do not need to be 'and and about' to have an exciting time-but you do need to feel comfortable inside you own space to be able to feel excitement and inspiration to do something. I wonder what could be accomplished if you added up those 'after dinner hours' for a year - let us say dinner is finished at 8pm and you go to bed at 11pm. That is 3 hours of your time. In a working week - 15 hours! In a month - 60 hours.

Every evening in itself is just one but when added up they create something different and turn into something bigger. Evenings are beautiful, just a shame we are so tired.