Monday 30 December 2013

Itchy feet

I'm getting itchy feet!!!!

For weeks now I have been feeling a little like a Spring bulb, waiting patiently for Spring to arrive when I can split my skin and quite literally burst out of my clothes and fly. For two years now I have been putting roots out, grabbing hold of the safety that is all around me, staying with the known and secure. But now my wings feel strong, I'm ready to take flight and engage in some serious adventure.

For the past year I have been thinking that such an adventure needs to be shared with a significant other and without looking I have attracted potential suitors but as yet none has truly shared my vision and rather then click in perfect harmony, I have found myself shying away from the true 'me' and compromising myself. Goodness no!!
I have never been a selfish person (to my knowledge) but at this moment in time I am being selfish with myself and not wishing to share my dreams at the expense of jeopardising them. That isn't to say that I don't wish to share my thoughts with you all. They say that if you want something enough then you are driven to make it happen - believe me guys this really is true. About three years ago I wrote a little list (actually it was quite a long one) of all the things I would like to do with my life. I have to admit to thinking that the idea was completely bonkers at the time, but nether the less I did as my friend suggested and wrote that list. When I found it at the beginning of the Summer, I had almost achieved all of those dreams, some of them were quite unlikely to happen (or so it seemed at the time). I've since written another list which I have lost, but I'm hoping that when I find it I will have a similar tale to tell. Try it and let me know what happens..........:-)

Anyway, back to those itchy feet........
My main topic of nuttiness is that I aspire to build a house. I know that is a pretty potty idea to say the least especially when I don't have the foggiest idea about house building, but here comes the really crazy bit.....I want to build it out of recycled building materials.
Yes I know what you are all thinking and in many ways I also wonder about my own sanity but when you have a dream you find yourself absorbing information, researching, asking questions and driving all your friends mad in the process until that dream becomes a reality and anyone who knows me well will know what I am like when I am passionate about something :-)

17 years ago (when I was only 24) I opened my own nursery school. The seed was planted when I was 21 and took three years to germinate and become a reality, three years of creating materials, researching, training and talking to the extent of boring everyone until my dream became a reality.
I frequently stopped in my track and did reality checks and had many serious moments of doubt as to whether I was literally barking up the wrong tree! But as I proved to myself on that occasion, if you want something enough, you will make it happen.

So many months into my house building dream I wonder how I am going to build a house on my own? How will I source the materials and buy the land? A recycled house won't fit in in an urban housing estate! What about building regs? I know nothing about these......but I'm researching and talking to people. This year (sorry next, see how desperate I am to burst into the new year!!), I'm planning to go on a Straw bale building course. Straw is a very viable building source and creates a rather rustic home, pretty cheap too. It's just a thought, my ideal house will be free or cost very little.
The question of where has not yet been decided, land is scarce around here and very expensive. Various other options keep creeping into my mind:- converting a double decker bus or a horse box, thus avoiding planning permission altogether. I've even thought of buying an old church or village hall and converting that. I enjoy camping and have lived in a derelict cottage (really derelict) before so am not phased by the idea of building an indoor camp in the corner of a hall or such like. I'm thinking aloud now!!

So examining what my issues are, I think I'm feeling a sense of adventure that is restricted by living in a house. I know I feel bothered by having to pay rent on a house having lived rent free for so many years prior to 2011. Don't get me wrong, I live in a lovely little cottage and I'm very happy here. It's the perfect community setting and very safe for the children, but we are home schooling so are not bound to a school and I'm not bound to a job, my work can travel with me so I feel I really should be getting out there and making the most of our freedom.

I've shared enough for now, off to do some more research............xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2 comments:

  1. How exciting! Sounds like a wonderful project and one that could take you anywhere...... :)

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  2. How about yurt living?! We loved so manyaspects of it, i have to say I do like the space and creature comforts of a house now though. But I completely understand the frustration of paying so much rent each month whenyou could build a beautiful little home with that same money so easily....Have you read ;Building a low impact roundhouse' by Tony Wrench? I love that book, it is very inspiring and funny and has lovely photo of the home he and his partner built together in Wales. I do think the biggest problem anyone faces trying to do this, is planning permission, even if you own the land it seems to be almost impossible to get permssion for these sort of homes....crazy really. We were able to live in a yurt because Ash worked at the campsite and the site had planning for three yurts for workers to live in. Diggers and Dreamers is a good website for information too x xx

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