The lowly, unassuming dining table.
It's the scene for homework marathons; for trawling through old photo albums; for humdinger family "debates" and, of course, for eating together. It's the last piece of furniture in the house that places human interaction above comfort and technology. Devoid of enhancement, it simply sits there and lets the drama unfold around it.
So it was with great dismay that I read a recent survey which reported that more than 50% of people in Britain today eat all their evening meals on the sofa. On the sofa! Fair enough to indulge in the odd takeaway pizza or restorative bowl of chicken soup if one is feeling below par, but every blessed meal? Said survey goes on to report that some 15% of us only use the dining table for special occasions – which offers a glimmer of hope for civilisation – but 29% never eat at the table. The research, commissioned by sofa specialist DFS, natch, also discovered that 12% of folk don't even own a dining table, preferring to eat all their meals on their lap.
I'm sorry, but surely eating with your knees at a level with your chin cannot be good for the digestion. And as for the crumbs...
Don't give me any nonsense about lack of space either. I have a home which estate agents would generously dub "bijou" but still manage to shoe-horn in a table and chairs. I'm not even talking full-blown separate dining room; a kitchen table is fine. It's the ritual of sitting upright, possibly facing others while you eat. Making a meal of it, essentially.
Dining tables are the settings for all kinds of drama. Think how many life-changing conversations take place over it, radical plans formed, compared to the soporific sofa, which merely provokes a feeble "pass the remote".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article