The Fool on the Hill is the private blog of me, Simon Brooke. I'm mad, and I live on the top of a hill.
I'm also old. When I was young, I wrote software, and for parts of the time, was extremely good at it. I still write software mainly for my own pleasure, but I have problems with concentration and with focus, so I'm no longer good at it. Now, instead, I run a croft.
I've suffered from what is called 'mental illness' since childhood. I'm uncomfortable with that label, for reasons discussed under Madness. I am both autistic and dyslexic; it's my strong belief that my 'illness' is a consequence of my primary school's response to this. Most of my life, I've had about one major breakdown every decade, lasting one to two years, and between those episodes I've ostly coped. But in old age I'm managing less well, and that's just something I need to live with.
I am a person of place. My place is Auchencairn, in Galloway, in Scotland. It is 'remote rural', an extremely beautiful place with depressed wages, concentrated land ownership (although not as concentrated as in some other parts of remote rural Scotland), and house prices driven by urban second-home owners and retirees, who can pay prices far beyond what can be afforded on wages paid in the local economy.
Politically, I'm anarcho-communist and ruralist. I have a particular interest in land reform.
I live (to an adequate degree of precision) near 55° north, 4° west, in an intentional community.
My credo: Life is harsh. What we can do — and what we should do — is strive to make it less harsh for the people around us.
You'll find me on Mastodon here.
Semper in faecibus sumus; sole profundam variat.