Taking it in turn, going down a list compiled and managed by the local council, my neighbours attach extra rooms, conservatories and lofts to their homes. Every morning of the week I wake up early to the sounds of carpentry and building. From out of my third-floor window overlooking the block of leafy back gardens encased by our homes, I can watch men with tools wandering about slowly, carefully climbing up and down ladders as the wife of the house invigilates their progress. Close to when one home comes near to it’s modification completion, we get a letter from the local council informing us of another neighbour who has decided to attach something to their home, that they have applied for permission from the council and us, their neighbours.
It is all so neatly organised, that only one home in our encasement may be modified at any one time. One gets the sense that my neighbours and I live in a slowly swirling galaxy of renovation. As soon as one rotation of the encasement has been made (which can take years depending on the type of work required) it doesn’t stop or slow down but continues onwards and around with a heavy and powerful inertia. As a season for a farmer imposes restrictions which can also induce innovation and pragmatism, the time-span of an enforced non-building is both a space for families to save enough money for another project, and time to reflect upon and plan their next step in home modification.
It’s the construction of a palace for the self and not least, building for capital. It is also a little introverted drama for oneself and intimates. In the kitchen I am Gordon Ramsay, when I decorate my house I am Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, in the garden, I am [….] in the attic, I am [….] in the bedroom, I am [….]. I am a whole person in control of my surroundings, through my home I can create the right setting for the person that I hope I actually am. So, we could say that building a loft or a conservatory isn’t only for the extra living space, a peaceful and protected hideaway studio where one can retreat and meditate, but it’s also part of a fabrication of oneself, one’s world and one’s overarching thematic concerns (or lifestyle choices) an event amongst others that helps us mark our lives and remember it, cautiously modulating the monotonous drone of the familiar and protecting home.
