Today Adam and I were once again working in the Aphrodite Field clearing thorn bushes while the three women were all working together in the kitchen making chutneys. Thus we had an old fashioned gender role system in action. When one lives in a place like this one can readily see why most traditional societies are organised in this way. The work in the field is heavy and needs a lot of muscle. If the men are thus occupied and the community still needs to be fed it is evident how things will go. The women work and chat and the men work in silence on separate but related tasks, co-operating only when necessary and talking when they stop for breaks or when a visitor show up. Things here have not changed much in a millennia. We may be modern educated people, but in the frame of country life we revert to old ways. Furthermore, it feels healthy. Although we probably do longer hours and harder work than those who work in office blocks in London what we eventually experience is healthy fatigue rather than 'stress'. There is something to be said for the old ways.
And, in the evening, back home, sitting in the golden light...
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