A Camper, a Coffee, a Moment and a Dog
Letters From The Potting Shed
Issue 002: ©Matthew W. Hall August 2026
Barney (Head of Mobile Operations) and the Author
We parked the camper under a spreading oak tree in a quiet country car park near an old church and turned the engine off.
Silence. As we put up the little table and slid the side door open to let Barney out to investigate the hedgerows, I had the strangest feeling: we had nothing to do but be in that moment.
Okay, there was the small stove-top kettle to fill and set to boil - after I'd worked out how to turn the gas on. But aside from putting coffee and milk into two cups and locating the packet of ginger nuts, my work here was done. I walked about with Barney for a bit; he likes to sniff everywhere and check in with the local wildlife. As Head of Mobile Operations, he is quite insistent on securing the perimeter of new locations!
Coffee made, Tracy and I sat back - no phones, no distractions - and chatted about this and that. We began some loose planning. Where would we go next? What changes would we make to the layout? What was missing from the inventory? But most of all, we spent time together in the moment: here, now, just being, not doing.
It made me reflect. Sometimes we get caught up in the momentum of the next thing we have to do or the next place we have to be. We can be swept along through another busy week and, before we stop and draw breath, it's the weekend again - or another month has arrived almost unexpectedly.
Two of my favourite philosophers, Socrates and Seneca, both spoke about the human tendency not to pay attention to life - a salutary warning for our modern times, I often think. Socrates likened himself to a 'gadfly', stinging people back to wakefulness, and argued for an examined life. Seneca reminded us that it is not that we don't have enough time, but that we waste so much of the time we do have.
I don't think we are generally careless or inattentive. We do not deliberately sleepwalk through life; it's more that we can so easily become engrossed in the day-to-day responsibilities and work that present themselves. We need to do certain things: eat, drink, earn a living, look after family or care for people we are responsible for. None of those things are wrong or bad. It's simply part of being human.
What can happen, though, is that we miss the other things unfolding around us - the things that, perhaps, make a little less noise. Approaching each new day, or even each new moment, with curiosity and appreciation can bring a different sense of place and purpose to even ordinary occurrences.
A brew is a great opportunity to pause for a moment.
I wonder if you would join me in a little experiment? Identify one task or activity that you have to do today or tomorrow and approach it as if it were the first time you had ever done it.
Then ask yourself: What did you notice? What did you need to complete the task or activity? Was there another way you could approach it? Could it have been done more easily? What would happen if you deferred it to another day - or perhaps didn't do it at all?
The point is not to abandon everything that must be done. It is to recognise yourself in the current moment; to value the sense of being right here, right now; and perhaps to notice how life ebbs and flows around you, and that more options may be available than first appear.
Taking those few hours to sit, think and talk did not change the world. It changed the way we saw the world for a brief moment. When you appreciate the moment, the space and the time you have, you begin to see that what we have is enough - often more than enough. Then, as we slow the pace a little and focus on what matters, we create a sense of space, quiet control and autonomy that no amount of efficient rushing or relentless busyness can replicate.
Take a moment today to notice, to pause, to reflect and to be.
Stay curious
Keep Noticing
Until next time
🌱🐾☕️📚🚐
