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The Virtual Rambler
Number six: 15th May 2010
The Leisure Industry
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As he passed through the fair at Athens , casting his eyes over the variety
of shops and stalls , Socrates (1) was heard to exclaim ,
“So many things are here that I do not want.” What would he have
made of the ever-expanding plethora of goods and services on offer
in the modern bazaar ? They bear witness to the discovery by Business that
no item or activity is superfluous to requirements and many people out
there can be persuaded that they must have them. Televisions , washing
machines , refrigerators , electric mixers and toasters became available
to our parents , via hire-purchase agreements , for the first time sixty
years ago. It was a time when economists optimistically predicted a future
in which people would be faced with the problem of how to occupy the
increased leisure time which science and compound interest would have won
for
them - perhaps in learning to live wisely. What came to pass instead was the
Leisure Industry , in which there was no room to acquire wisdom unless
it was paid for. Among the people eager to exploit the expanding consumer
society , market research became vital. Attitude measurement , opinion
sampling and consumer profiling were the keys to commercial success. Hence
the ubiquitous ‘feedback’ throughout the Service World of a free-market
future. So too did the hire-purchase concept transmute into those 12-month
(or longer) contracts demanded by internet providers and the suppliers
of all mobile phone networks , as by those catering to devotees of the
‘active lifestyle’ in Fitness and Leisure Centres.
Ah yes , that Energise Leisure Centre , with its implicit assumption
that the unexercised life is not worth living. Next time you arrive for your
weekly swim , pause outside the room full of people on stationary bicyles
and rowing machines , expensive bottles of water by their sides , as they
sweat
and strain with the bulging eyes of galley slaves. Remark next doors’
equally stressed expressions , where weights are lifted with gruntings
suggestive of
interrogation by the Gestapo. Here in the temple of Fitness Provision ,
bodies come to be flattered and second-guessed in the hope that self-love
will
continue to thrive. Female devotees emerge en route to the Range-Rover in
pastel-coloured leisurewear (formerly known as tracksuits) , already posting
their visit on Facebook. “Just worked out at The Elysium. Feeling great ,
guys.” Social media have rendered reticence obsolete. For every modern
Descartes ,
they post therefore they are. Male or female , rich or poor – they're all
dupes of a corporate work-ethic seeping into the contemporary concept of
leisure
as an opportunity for self-development.
Monday , Tuesday , Wednesday , Thursday , Friday , the days roll on as the
months go sliding by. Rising , commuting , pointing , clicking , toadying ,
copying , lunching , pasting , downloading , upgrading , an hour’s exercise
in The Elysium , home for some microwaving and then sleeping …. to which we
can
add , Saturdays to Waitrose or Aldi as the case may be , loading up a
trolley with next week’s provender. Then comes Sunday , no longer the day of
rest. It’s
the Leisure centre for Mr. and Mrs. Prudent (“Just an apple juice for me”)
or the back-street gym for Sharon and Clive , whose following hours will be
spent
in the Chained Bull pub around the corner. In my youth , the essence of
typical English hobbies was how little they cost - stamp-collecting ,
pottering about
in your garden , pigeon-fancying , train-spotting , crossword puzzles. For
the brisker world of Business-and-nothing-but-Business , this could never
do. Who
can now deny the automatic cash dispenser , where we wait in line before
inserting our debit card for the wherewithal to finance further consumption
of our
once-free time ? You’ve got to do something with it. Barbarians , who have
been at the gates since the first fortified settlement appeared , are now
the R
;anti–social elements” smashing bottles and emptying litter bins
on the streets outside Gastropubs full of responsible citizens watching
Rugby
Cup games on Big Sky T.V. screens , pints of cask ale slopping over their
fists as they scream at the flickering images of thick–set men in
shorts
behaving like bulldozers.
Wig.
(1) Socrates the 5th
century B.C. Greek philosopher , not to be
confused with the chain-smoking Brazilian captain of the team that won the
World Cup in 1982.
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Archive
Virtual rambler #1 – Posturing,
9th March 2010
Virtual rambler #2 –
Managerialism, 17th March 2010
Virtual rambler #3 – Nostalgia,
27th March 2010
Virtual rambler #4 – The Alpha
Male, 13th April 2010
Virtual rambler #5 – General
Elections, 3rd May 2010
Virtual rambler #6 – The Leisure
Industry, 15th May 2010
Virtual rambler #7 – Guide to
The World Cup, 15th June 2010
Virtual rambler #8 – Human
Nature, 12th July 2010
Virtual rambler #9 –
Communities, 13th August 2010
Virtual rambler #10 – Worlds
Apart, 6th October 2010
Virtual rambler #11 – Dawdling,
22nd November 2010
Virtual rambler #12 – ELVIS,
24th December 2010
Virtual rambler #13 –
Transience, 4th February 2011
Virtual rambler #14 – Regional
Accents, 15th April 2011
Virtual rambler #15 – The
Afterlife, 21st July 2011
Virtual rambler #16 – Bizspeak,
27th August 2011
Virtual rambler #17 – Night
Walks, 3rd October 2011
Virtual rambler #18 – Bob Dylan
and Charles Dickens, 8th November 2011
Virtual rambler #19 – Another
Nutty Professor, 16th December 2011
Virtual rambler #20 – Customer
Choice, 16th January 2012
Virtual rambler #21 – Wearing
Shorts, 18th February 2012
Virtual rambler #22 – A Brief
History of Progress, 17th March 2012
Virtual rambler #23 – The Myth
of Sisyphus, 16th April 2012
Virtual rambler #24 – Natural
History, 20th May 2012
Virtual rambler #25 – European
Self Importance, 26th June 2012
Virtual rambler #26 – Sweet
Dreams, 25th July 2012
Virtual rambler #27 – Excess,
17th August 2012
Virtual rambler #28 – In Denial,
20th September 2012
Virtual rambler #29 – The Way,
21st October 2012
Virtual rambler #30 – On
Rambling, 14th November 2012
Virtual rambler #31 – Gazing
Into The Abyss, 18th December 2012
Virtual rambler #32 –
Intellectual Gloom, 25th January 2013
Virtual rambler #33 – Great
Human Achievements, 20th February 2013
Virtual rambler #34 –
Autobiography, 20th March 2013
Virtual rambler #35 – Your Good
Health, 21st April 2013
Virtual rambler #36 –
Deconstruction, 20th May 2013
Virtual rambler #37 – My Home
Town, 19th June 2013
Virtual rambler #38 – Ancient
History, 21st July 2013
Virtual rambler #39 –
Possessions, 20th August 2013
Virtual rambler #40 – Sporting
Stoics, 20th September 2013
Virtual rambler #41 – Free Time,
20th October 2013
Virtual rambler #42 – Ewan Don't
Allow, 20th November 2013
Virtual rambler #43 – A Literary
Nexus, 20th December 2013
Virtual rambler #44 – Taking
Liberties, 16th January 2014
Virtual rambler #45 – More or
Less, 20th February 2014
Virtual rambler #46 – Under
Control, 20th March 2014
Virtual rambler #47 – Waiting,
20th April 2014
Virtual rambler #48 – They Rose
Without Trace, 20th May 2014
Virtual rambler #49 – Bigger
Impression , Smaller Footprint, 20th June 2014
Virtual rambler #50 –
Terpsichorean Instrumentations, 18th July 2014
Virtual rambler #51 – Socially
Mediated, 19th August 2014
Virtual rambler #52 – Rambling Into The Sunset, 20th September 2014
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