The School of Life

Richard Reynolds on his stuggle to fill the world with flowers

I began guerrilla gardening four years ago. These strikes were solo nocturnal missions. My aim was to make myself a garden from the miserable and neglected flowerbeds abandoned by Southwark Council's horticultural contractors. In parallel, little did I know, but thousands of others were doing the same, taking land that was not theirs and cultivating it, for flowers and food, alone and in groups, in cities and in country lanes. 

A lot has happened since I began guerrilla gardening and it's all because I blogged about it. So here I am blogging some more to tell you about The School of Life's wonderful Guerrilla Gardening gift box (seen here), which contains all you need for a night out transforming some orphaned land into a little garden.

It also contains a copy of my recent book, ON GUERRILLA GARDENING, which BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time picked as one of their Top 5 gardening books for Christmas: "I'd go as far as to say it's one of the most unusual gardening books of 2008, well written, well researched, very inspiring". Unfortunately praise for guerrilla gardening is not universal and the fight continues on the doorstep... my local council (Southwark) have just pressed the big red nuclear button and declared war on my oldest guerrilla garden. The bombshell arrived in the form of an invoice to me and my 89 neighbours for gardening they have not been doing. Last year they refunded their fraudulent charge for three years of 'grounds maintenance' after admitting the work had been done by guerrilla gardeners. But now they have reinstated the charge without explanation. Read more about this farcical saga at www.guerrillagardening.org.

Richard takes participants on The School of Life’s PLAY course out for a beginners’ guerrilla gardening lesson. Book now for the course starting on 2 February.

He is also leading an Urban Gardening Holiday for The School of Life in collaboration with Emma Townshend in April 2009. Find out more or book a place HERE.

To order The Guerrilla Gardening Christmas Gift Box for £35 plus post and packaging, click HERE.

Caroline Brimmer on new forms of short-haul travel

We're packing our bags here at The School of Life to spend the weekend on holiday at Heathrow airport with philosopher Alain de Botton.

Alain has also just launched a Holiday at Home gift box  - the perfect Christmas gift for those under the costly and mistaken impression that they must leave home to go on holiday. The box contains everything you need to enjoy a holiday in the comfort of your front room. You travel first class (socks, an eye mask and all other amenities are included), visit exotic beaches, go on safari, enjoy the comforts of room service in some of the world's most luxiuious hotels, take in a bit of culture and even enjoy some holiday romance. Best of all, it's entirely carbon neutral and you avoid and the vicious despair and depression that so often goes hand in hand with returning from a journey to piles of post and nagging questions as to one’s direction in life.

The idea seems to be catching on. We've just discovered that a new Indian airline is redefining the idea of no-frills flying, offering passengers the opportunity to experience the novelty of pretending to take a flight for just £2. The journey involves the usual safety demonstration and announcements from the pilot warning passengers of turbulence. Flight attendants serve meals on airline trays, warning lights come on and off, but the plane never actually leaves the ground.

For more inspiration about holidays at home, read Xavier de Maistre's classic Journey Around My Bedroom or watch Jamie J Johnson's award-winning short film of the same title.

Caroline Brimmer is programme manager at The School of Life.

Alain de Botton's Holiday at Home giftbox (shown here) costs £60.00 and is available exclusively from The School of Life. Find out more here.

Last minute holiday ideas from The School of Life

If you still haven't organised your summer holiday, here's what The School of Life recommends:

Lots of money and time to spare?
Head to the Lofoten Islands at the 67th and 68th degree parallels North of the Arctic Circle in Norway. The journey is something of a challenge but you'll make up time when you get there - the islands have nearly 24 hours of daylight at this time of year.

No money but time to spare?
Take advice from the 18th century French thinker and philosopher Xavier De Maistre who found himself confined to his room in 1790 when he was arrested after a duel. With only a butler and a dog for company, de Maistre managed to fill his time happily by embarking on a fantastical journey around his bedroom. By treating his bed, his armchair, the artworks on the wall and his small library as major tourist sites, he reflected on their history, their importance to him, and the philosophical questions that they brought to mind. He imagined how he'd like to make love to all the women in the world, indeed to all the women who ever lived; playacted conversations with the illustrious dead, and even invited his readers to imagine sitting down to breakfast with him.

No time off till September?
Wait a few weeks and then come on holiday with The School of Life. From 19-21 September, Martin Parr is leading a trip to the Isle of Wight to explore the vulgarity, nostalgia and brashness of British holidaymaking in its full glory. Find out more here.