Estate Living Magazine The Slow Movement - Issue 39 March 2019 | Page 64

G O O D
SLOW DOWN IN
L I F E
SLOW
TOWN
Some small towns are naturally
slow – stuck away in the middle of
nowhere – but some have to work
at it. The tiny town of Sedgefield,
South Africa’s first certified
Cittaslow town, is not in the middle
of nowhere. It’s on the ever-popular,
and only historically sleepy, Garden
Route, so it’s had to work hard at
slowing down.
The slow movement, which grew out of the slow food movement,
is not about slacking off – it’s about taking the time to do things
slowly and with purpose. It’s about taking time to do the things that
matter. Walking where you can, smelling the fynbos, spending time
with your family, spending time with yourself, taking time out of the
office for lunch instead of guzzling something down in front of your
computer – yes, even in Joburg. And certainly on holiday.
Embracing the concept of ‘slow’ was a brilliantly proactive way
of dealing with the frustration of generations of Garden Route
holidaymakers who gritted their teeth as they slowed from 120km/h
to the seemingly tortoise-crawling velocity of 60km/h in a very short
space as they hit the outskirts of the town. And the town has even
chosen the tortoise as its mascot.