Have you ever wanted to escape from society and live independently out in the woods? Or is escaping to a chata for a few weekends in a year enough for you? Does an internet site about the virtues of primitive cabins seem like an oxymoron? How does the picture of cabins in Norway compare to that in Slovakia?
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Many people, as well as our family, have these days a weekend house so called a “chata”. For me it is enough to go there, because these weekend houses are usually somewhere not near cities which provide many outdoor activities. We have our cabin 30 km away from Bratislava in a small village surrounded by fields, some woods and lakes. Going cycling, or just for long walks makes you totally forget the whole rushed reality of a city life. Maybe I had some thoughts in the past about escaping and living independently somewhere in the middle of the woods, though it seems that these thoughts weren’t fairly strong to be realized, because it is not always good to “run away” from problems or the society. To be honest, in my opinion the internet site about the virtues of primitive cabins really seems like oxymoron because I don’t think that it is possible to forget reality of life simply by looking at some cabins on a webpage even though some of them are really beautiful. Living in a cabin away from world wouldn’t make the world easier at all what the cabin porn website urges with the visual stimulation. Though, I really like what they said about their common features, that “the cabins have one thing in common: they are all gorgeous, in their own way.” This suggests that they give rights to people to have their cabins designed according to themselves. Nothing less nothing more. The cabins in Norway seem to be based more on the loneliness because on almost all the pictures I saw on the Cabin porn website the cabins stood there alone. This means that if people lived there, they wouldn’t have any neighbors as they do have in Slovakia. However, there are people having a lonely cabin in Slovakia as well. Though I can also say that the surrounding of the Cabin porn websites cabins is extremely beautiful and there are only some places in Slovakia that are similar to this surrounding. Slovakia has more of a farm cabins in small villages where people who live there own many domestic animals. In my opinion, Slovakian cabins are more realistic because the ones in Norway seem to be good only for the mind. The cabins from Cabin porn are only “visual stimulations of the urge for a simpler life in beautiful surroundings.”
ReplyDeleteThis article is really interesting to me. In my opinion, lots of people often dream about escaping from the society. Sometimes, we’re just fed up with all morals, rules, principles or we’re disappointed with the human’s values. It’s absurd, since the civilization should be the paradise for us, but it’s sometimes considered as the biggest burden. The feeling of running away from the reality is absolute normal and natural. I often wish to be somewhere in a forest, far away from Bratislava or Prievidza.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the civilization can prevent us from healthy development of our minds. We’re the creatures of nature, and so we’re keen on her. Nowadays, we spend less and less time outside. Due to this our senses are being less developed than they were in the past. All people in modern age are in hurry. However, harmony, peace and balance are considered as main aspects for human psychical development. The conclusion is easy. Metropolises are not a convenient place for achieving this goal. So living somewhere in the forest can be considered as ideal solution. However, we need to admit the benefits of civilization. Since we’re in infinite discussion with other people, we can change our minds, opinions. We can see thing differently. We’re not so reserved against different points of view. Due to mentioned advantages and disadvantages, we need to find certain balance between civilization and cabins in forests. People should spend some time in the nature and they should focus on their minds, they should try to think about the essence of life and so on, but on the other hand, they should be active in the civilized world as well. According to mentioned facts, I quite like cabins. I think, it’s a good tool not lose the touch with nature. It’s suitable for everyone to spend some time in nature without the effects of modern world. As is mentioned in the text, lots of cabins have TV antennas or satellite dishes. This symbolize that habitants of such cabins do not lose the connection with civilization to a great extent. I think that if you want to repose at your cabin, it’s not bad to have such high technology there. However, you’ll be less natural if you use such technology somewhere in the forest. That’s why I personally more appreciate the cabin without such modern tools. However, if I would like just to have a rest from rushed world somewhere in the nature, I can’t see any problem with TV connection there. I can spend the whole day by collecting the mushrooms and in the evening I can watch the news. So it’s up to people, to what extent they want to leave from modern world. As we can see in the article, there’re also problems connected with cabins. In Norway, lots of cabins were built all around the country, and so the environment was damaged (since you need to get to every cabin by some road). Government made a good decision to restrict the amount of such cabins. Villages of cabins were made. In my opinion, it’s a great idea. People can have a rest there, and it’s quite comfortable to spend certain time there, since hot water and electricity is provided.
I think, it’s really exciting to live somewhere out of people’s sight. I would like to try it, but I think, I wouldn’t be satisfied there, if I lived there for a long time. I like to go to the countryside and spend there few weeks. I was at the farm in Czech Republic and it was amazing. Only horses, clear sky and no light pollution at all. It was wonderful. I consider being somewhere outside as very important part of our lives. Cabins are perfect idea. In the future, I would like to have one, and spend there my free days. Just feeling the nature surrounding you…
I understand the human desperate need for dreaming about escaping the society to a beautiful nature surrounding. But I don't think it would be easier life living in a lonely standing cabin. In fact, I am convinced than our lives in society are far too comfortable and most of us, including the majority of the Cabin Porn picture grazers, might be surprised standing in front of the cabin wondering how to ensure the coziness they expected to find there. As I read in the article, there are cabin villages being built in Norway since it makes it easier to build the infrastructure of water and electricity supply, which is usually taken as necessity.
ReplyDeleteI think it is more than obvious that people long for a quiet, slow, let's say simpler life outside the hectic cities. Now I would ask, what exactly is simpler about a life outside the society? As I pointed, life in a cabin is certainly no easier from the point of providing satisfaction of our basic needs. In my opinion, the common ideal of a primitive life in some cabin seems to be too easy, too unreal. I agree with Sabi that in Slovakia, we have a more realistic view of cabins and life in them. I bet anybody will tell that life in a village or else in a hut requires much more work around the residence.
But I think it is just the sense of freedom and independence that lure most people. I dare to say that the most powerful feature of the Cabin Porn site is merely the visual effect, the wonderful scenery in which the nicely arranged and uniquely looking cabins stand. As the article says, the Cabin Porn website, and I believe many others, show only the beautiful visual stimulus to make people dream. Everybody needs to dream, I guess. The problem is, simply put, solely in our inability and laziness to realise them.
Nevertheless, not to be so strict, there are a few examples of people who tried this type of life for long term and eventually praise and recommend it. I'd say those are quite rare types of people today, ones who are not socially conformal. My mother is kind of such person. Once, when I was around 5 or 6 years old, she decided to go living in our hut some 40 km from Bratislava. It was summer then and we could gather some fruit from around. Our hut stands at the edge of a cabin community just next to a field, at that time used to grow wheat. We lived there for over two months and enjoyed that life. We had to go 4 kilometres to the nearest shop but we used to walk a lot in the forests around. It was also that my mom could pay me all her time, which she couldn’t when she worked at home back in Bratislava.
I like going there even nowadays but I prefer going for only few days just to enjoy the nature, silence and peace and to relax. I admit I don’t exactly seek the primitive way of life.
I didn't know about the "Cabin Porn" website before reading this article, but I had heard of a phenomenon in the US called "tiny houses." See, for example, the Tiny House Blog at http://tinyhouseblog.com/. These mostly are cabins, although some are portable, having wheels or being small enough to fit in the back of a truck.
ReplyDeleteI think interest in cabins is part nostalgia for a simpler time. With the American tiny house movement, it seems to be mostly young adults that want an inexpensive home they can build themselves. So that movement seems more motivated by practicality than nostalgia. I also suspect that the "tiny house" is reacting against the trend over the last twenty years in America for people to buy larger and larger houses .