The latest edition of the London Review of Books has an article with a tantalizing title: The Most Boring Country on Earth. Before turning to the article I thought what would I regard as the most boring country on Earth? It immediately gets you caught up in criteria - some countries are truly boring but make up for it with spectacular scenery - New Zealand and Canada come to mind. Other countries are definitely not boring but have a little too much excitement: I wouldn't call either Iraq or Afghanistan boring but I wouldn't want to live there. Is boredom just one of these very personal things?
When I turned to the article it transpired the author was discussing Britain between 1952 and 1957. On that basis Britain had best get in the queue - the world generally was quite boring - but what do OLO posters think? Which country would get your vote? Is living in a boring place a good thing?

I maintain that boring is good. It means you're not frantic, stressed out, needing to kill snakes and put out fires; and you have time and energy left over for furthering your higher goals. Most of the people in non-boring countries, like Iraq, would prefer to live in boring countries, like Switzerland; not usually the other way around. Down with excitement! More strength to the boringists!

Dear BAYGON,

I've never been bored while travelling
to other countries. That's part of the fun
of experiencing a whole range of different
experiences. For me every country around
the world has its pros and cons -
it depends what you're
looking for. It's always best to do
your homework on the ins and outs,
and what the country has to offer.
Boredom after all is a state of mind
rather then something to do with the
country in which you're visiting and,
or, living in.

If your mind isn't stimulated enough
then maybe, just maybe, you're not
getting out enough and getting to know the
region, local culture and local people?

Also, which country did you leave?
If you went from cosmopolitan Paris or
London to the Sahara Desert - you can't
expect the same sort of stimulus that
you had in large urban cities. For example,
my husband would never move to a small country
town, he'd go nuts, preferring the big cities
and all the hussle and bustle they entail.
Whereas, being a country-girl, I'd love to
eventually retire to a small town - but I guess
there's no chance of that happening ever.
So I make do and cope as best as I can. At
least in Melbourne there's plenty of parks to
choose from - so it's great!

Anywhere can be boring. How we live our lives is what makes life worth living whether we may be moved by simply watching a sunset or dancing the night away at a rave.

I used to ride motorcycles - had a great need for that adrenalin rush. I still love to travel, but now I return to a modest timber home in bushland where the greatest noise is generated by cockatoos instead of industrial strength grunge rock.

Boredom is a state of mind, not a state or a nation.

Yeah, I'm with Jardine. Depends on your definition of boring.

Maybe countries that have extended winters up the top could be argued as boring as you spend much of the year inside doing ... well ... whatever. Much, MUCH more time for ... ummm ... interpersonal relations ... let's say, so that may not fit others idea of boring.

People from war torn countries would kill - 'cuse the bad taste pun - for 'boring'.

Much like life, I reckon your location is what you make of it, but going to someone's elses place and calling it boring really would make you an ... ummm ... hole in a donkey. So to speak.

I have always loved any country i have travelled to. While on my travels though i have always been amazed to find other tourists that hate some country or are bored with where they are. Almost always after talking with them i found that the problem was them, they were without question always the boring ones.

I understood Baygon to ask which country you consider most boring to live in. The "everything's exciting for tourists" observations - valid though they are - don't really address it.

I have travelled a little, mostly on business. I would definitely choose Switzerland as the country in which would dread most to have to live. Finland comes a close-ish second.

It mostly has to do with the people, of course. Particularly their sense of excitement and curiosity. Or lack thereof.

Do we have Swiss or Finnish contributors to this thread...?

Who get's to define boring?

I'm at my happiest and most interested doing things that many others would consider chores and their entertainments can bore me to tears. A few other posters here have mentioned a love of science fiction, how long does it take to get bored with access to a ready supply of good book's. Would CJ ever be bored in a country where he had access to a quiet river (fish optional) and a few quiet beers? For others of us playing in the garden or tinkering in the shed and it's bliss. With access to the internet some of us can be entertained for a long while.

If we are constrained to do something we find uninteresting most of us can suffer some boredom but for the most part it's a choice.

R0bert

Pericles, "Switzerland"

+1

For cities, our very own Canberra in the winter would be hard to beat for deathly dull. Has to be, everyone who can afford a ticket out leaves for hols, public holidays and weekends wherever possible. It is an exodus.

Boring is a word I try to avoid. Boredom is usually from within and of our own making.

I have lived in some pretty small places and some larger places - contrary to what most people might think the smaller places tend to have more going for them for social and community activity. Maybe it is because they have to make their own fun for the most part and we all tend to take for granted those things on our doorstep in the big smoke.

Cornflower I love Canberra during the exodus. No queues whatsoever and peace and quiet on the roads.

I crave a quiet life in the country that some might abhor.

A bit of fresh air, water to swim in, a few good books, plays, music, chooks, ducks, geese and a vegie patch and I am happy.

Interesting comments todate. They do confirm the arguments by Bok in his book the Politics of Happiness - material goods very quickly pale and become boring. Indeed the consumer society is based on the premise that we need to be kept dissatisfied for that is the spur to consumption.
Places are not boring, rather it is our opportunity to live a fulfilling life that makes a place boring or not. For me good conversation and good books are sufficient - thank heavens for free libraries! Both of these can be had anywhere but some environments seem more conducive to both of these - Rome and Paris come to mind but I can also find the same here at home - picking up my mail from the shop, weekly training with the country fire service and a regular trip to the library make this sleepy place of ours of just 300 people a wonderful place to live. (Of course most would dismiss it as a boring little place.)

Fascinating thread. I used to get around a lot, often to some pretty exotic locations. Nowadays I live in a particularly nice, but very quiet, part of rural Oz.

I can't imagine being bored. There's so much to know and do, and such little time in which to do it. There's so many wonderful and fascinating places that it doesn't really matter all that much where I live.

We're thinking of moving to NW Tasmania in a few years' time. I'm quite sure it won't be boring :)

Dear BAYGON,

A man who loves libraries.
What a bonus for your wife
having a "novel" lover ... ;-)

Seriously, your small town sounds
Luverly! I certainly can appreciate
your feelings.

I'm a librarian.

I agree with most here, especially severin and pelican. Countries and places are not boring, it is a state of mind. Although some places are more interesting than others.

Fancy severin being an ex-bikie and Foxy being a librarian. How could anyone be bored, the mind boggles. We posters keep learning little bits about each other. Like pelican I live rural and love it. I have my cattle, my chooks which are simply the best recyclers and garbage disposal units ever and my shetland pony, who does the whipper snipping around the yard, spoilt rotten of course, big hard nosed me!

The quiet is deafening and I can watch TV or listen to music when I feel like it and there are books and this bloody PC, where I spend too much time. Right now I am addicted to following Jessica Watson sail into history. Who could ever be bored. No country is boring.

I have to agree, boredom is largely a state of mind. I have a curious
nature, so am always wondering about something, wheras some seem
to need constant stimulation from others, to avoid being bored.

Yup Pericles, I have Swiss origins and lived there for some years.
The place is not really boring, just well organised. You are clearly
not into snow skiing!

*A bit of fresh air, water to swim in, a few good books, plays, music, chooks, ducks, geese and a vegie patch and I am happy.*

Sheesh, I just know she should have married me :)

Watch out for Foxy, & all her books of hers you blokes, they're dangerous.

It was all those books about Spitfires in WW11 that led to me flying fighters, off aircraft carriers.

Then it was a book about Henery Ford that had me studding engineering.

It was The Man From Snowy River that made me want a horse, & then go show jumping, when I couldn't find any wild horses to chase through rugged mountain ranges.

I can't even pronounce rhe names of the couple of Italians who's books about motor racing, between the wars, sent me off thundering around Bathurst at a hundred miles an hour.

Then that pommy, Chichester & his book, Along the Clipper Way made me spend 6 years sailing around the Pacific islands, looking for all that romance.

So if ever you get bored, just drop into Foxy, & grab a book. That should fill a few years, if you chose a good one.

Dear Hasbeen,

You've just proven something I've always
suspected...
Real men do read! ;-)

Hasbeen, if you weren't such a dick so often, I'd really like you. That was a great post - as I think one of us said once, we're not far apart on alot of stuff. Cheers.

P.S. it's "studying", not "studding". I only mention it because it's a spelling error you make regularly. Perhaps it's a recurrent Freudian slip?

Geesh...Yabby you've gone and made me blush!

Can you imagine it? Ha ha we would have to avoid economics and politics. :)

I have worked with many Swiss and they were without exception highly organised, perfectionist and almost always serious but with the occasional twinkle of humour hiding in there somewhere. Just avoid a Swiss Chef when the pressure is on.

Swiss German is very difficult and led to some rather embarrasing misunderstandings with my inadequate school taught Hochdeutsch and the Swiss variation of German. Yikes.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that the Swiss, while reputedly boring, tend to turn up in the strangest places. There always seems to be a 'Swiss' restaurant to be found, even in places where McDonalds et al are blissfully absent.

Just sayin' ;)

Foxy, I think you'll like this.

When I was sailing around the place, I had a lot of books on board. Most of the yachties I met had a supply, too. Of course, we had read most of them from cover to cover.

When we met another yacht we would often have a book swap session. There was a convention followed at these sessions, where we wrote in the fly leaf the date, the place, & the name of the boat the books went to this time.

Many of those books had spent years sailing around the barrier reef, but some had been to more than a few exotic places. One book I acquired in the Gilbert Islands had ciruumnavigated the world 4 times in 10 years, as well as visit more Pacific islands than I can remember. There were so many names, & places, in that book that we were writing on the back cover.

Boring countey? Gee, I never found one of those.

CJ, that is probably because in Switzerland, learning some kind
of trade is just about considered socially mandatory. So you
have lots of chefs for instance, also hotel managers around the
world are commonly Swiss. It goes back to a great school for
training hotel managers in Lausanne. But the same principles
apply to nearly all trades, so the Swiss tend to move around
the world, based on their qualifications.

The thing is, Switzerland has no natural resources as such,
so the Swiss had to learn to use brainpower as their most
valuable resource.

Swiss sense of humour is quite dry and would often not be
understood by others, so I'd say that being in a foreign country
here, many would not really show their more humorous side.
Amongst other Swiss, they tend to lighten up.

Pelican, its a real shame that more people don't enjoy the
simple country life. My idea of bliss is a real old Macdonald's
farm :) I thrive on it.

But I reckon for many, life goes full circle. When they are young,
they leave home and head for the bright lights. They have their
careers, make their money, do their politics etc. But what then?
Look around you, many a politician or businessman will head
for the country, breed some horses, run a few cows, grow a few
grapes, play around with the tractor, full of dirt and blissfully
happy!

Dear Hasbeen,

You should write an account of your experiences.
I think it would make an interesting book. I for
one would buy and read it. It sounds like you've lived
a very rich life - and I bet there's still heaps
more to come. The little you've told us on OLO,
sounds like a Bestseller. I love the idea of books
being passed on and valued. Amazing experience!

Cela est bien dit, répondit Candide, mais il faut cultiver notre jardin - This was Candide's conclusion after his travels - cultivate your own garden. They say Voltaire meant that one should mind one's own business but I think that what is emerging from this thread is more on the money.
Hasbeen - I like nothing better than getting a second hand book, especially if previous readers have scribbled their thoughts in the margins.
Four times in my life I have scrapped my entire library and started afresh - some old friends come back to the new library Sasson's Memoirs of a Fox Hunting man describes boring old England before it was torn apart by WW1.
One book I miss is an autobiographical account of someone who, in the late 19th century spent a year with the Inuit. (can't even remember the title.) Yet with those sort of friends who has time to be bored?
Today people have it even better than we did - my daughter is currently 'wwoofing' around the world http://www.wwoof.com.au/WWOOFing_aound_the_world.html - a great idea - free accommodation in return for sharing people's lives for a short period - I doubt that she will get bored.

I reckon you have it in one Yabby. The nice thing about getting older (as opposed to old) is one values the simple in life and finds joy in what is often right in front of us rather than superficial entertainments.

Hasbeen and Foxy I share your love of books and secondhand books with notes attached gives something personal to a book - maybe a bit of each of our souls (in a good way). The best find I ever made was a $15 purchase in an old bookshop of poetic works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The best part was the inscription and date - a gift to a graduating student signed and dated 1885. Wow that was a grand feeling. Book was in good nick too.

BAYGON this thread has turned into a great discussion about what is important in life - which might be different for us all - but discovering what it is for each of us is all part of what makes life worth living. (I was going to say all part of life's journey but that sounds so twee and psychobabbly).

Hasbeen,
Yes, I agree with foxy, You should consider writing a book.

Your life sounds to have been most interesting. Quite outside the norm, so it should be documented. You never know, it might end up being swapped from Yacht to yacht and go around the world.

Dear Pelly,

You've said it so well.

This thread has turned into something very special.
I'm also enjoying reading everyone's experiences and
thoughts.

A few years ago I received a book as a gift from a
borrower. "The Complete Plays of Bernard Shaw."
Beautifully leather-bound, with gold lettering and
edging around the pages.
There was an inscription inside telling me that the
book had once belonged to a man born in 1882. I presume
it must have been a relative of the borrower who gave
me the book. I've read and re-read it many times,
and it's one of my most treasured books.

Dear BAYGON,

There's a book that was written by Gontran de Poncins
called, "Kabloona: Among the Inuit."
Gontran de Poncins spent 15 months among the Inuit
people of the Arctic. It was written in 1941 and he
ended up morphing from a "Kabloona" (white man) into
an eskimo. You can google the title. Or try
Amazon.com. If it's not the one you're after - I'm
sure you'd still enjoy it. It's beautifully written
and a good story.

hasbeen given the influence of books on your career choices it is just as well you didn't read murder mysteries you would have ended up either as a cop or as a serial killer.

I can't really comment on which country is the most boring, but to me living in the country certainly isn't.
I honestly can't imagine what it must be like, to be unemployed or retired and living in a flat in the city. What on earth would you do with yourself?
With a few acres, there is never any shortage of things that need doing, or should be done, or could be done.

Baygon, I don't know about murder mysteries, most of my reading is factual stuff. About the only fiction I read is science fiction.

I was just thinking however, that it's a good thing I didn't read about the Inuit. I have never been much good in the cold.