"Idleness allows you to turn a situation from boredom to pleasure." — Tom Hodgkinson

Faffing, of course, does not fit the programme. We are supposed to be busy, productive citizens.

If you can find a way to make a living doing something you enjoy, or a range of things that you enjoy, then it can scarcely be called work.

In this age of getting what you want and getting it now, the simple pleasure of browsing is often forgotten.

I've given up email. Well, almost. At the weekend I set up one of those auto-reply messages, informing my correspondents that I would no longer be checking my emails, and that instead they might like to call or write, as we used to in the olden days.