Ask my friends to name a belonging that defines me and they would probably reply that it’s my clothes rail. Industrial-strength, double-height, stretching the length of the room, filled with choice pieces I have picked up over the years. As an ex-costume and textiles curator, it’s my collection. To my psychiatrist husband Ashim, the rail is a symbol of a woman treading a line somewhere between addiction and hoarding. Scores of seasoned removal men have commented on the sheer volume. I don’t have one grandfather clock, I have four.
Three years ago, planning the ultimate solution to the hanging space problem in our Manchester terrace, we decided to build our own house. We bought a piece of land in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, and waited patiently for the planning permission to come. Then we patiently waited for the appeal to be processed. Two years later, we began to rethink our plans. Listing the places we liked, there was no common thread. We wanted to live simultaneously in the countryside, in a city, on an island, at the seaside.
One day in early 2016, Ashim spotted a contract as a locum psychiatrist in a hospital in Bermuda. We let out our house, arrived in April, and for six months I drank a lot of rum swizzle, and Ashim had one of the world’s most beautiful commutes. It got us thinking: there is a shortage of senior psychiatrists everywhere, and locum jobs pop up in the most interesting places. I’m turning my PhD (on the influence of sculpture on contemporary British ceramics – a guaranteed conversation-stopper) into a book, so can work anywhere. We could live a rich life, in lots of different places. And we decided to do it in a caravan. Read more
Three years ago, planning the ultimate solution to the hanging space problem in our Manchester terrace, we decided to build our own house. We bought a piece of land in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, and waited patiently for the planning permission to come. Then we patiently waited for the appeal to be processed. Two years later, we began to rethink our plans. Listing the places we liked, there was no common thread. We wanted to live simultaneously in the countryside, in a city, on an island, at the seaside.
One day in early 2016, Ashim spotted a contract as a locum psychiatrist in a hospital in Bermuda. We let out our house, arrived in April, and for six months I drank a lot of rum swizzle, and Ashim had one of the world’s most beautiful commutes. It got us thinking: there is a shortage of senior psychiatrists everywhere, and locum jobs pop up in the most interesting places. I’m turning my PhD (on the influence of sculpture on contemporary British ceramics – a guaranteed conversation-stopper) into a book, so can work anywhere. We could live a rich life, in lots of different places. And we decided to do it in a caravan. Read more