move house

is happening next week and I’ve never had so much packing to do, past experience has taught me to travel light, live within my means but this time I wanted to break out of my regular cycle. It seems I subconciously thought that becoming a serial horder would help me grow some roots and stay in one place for a while… it hasn’t. Instead it’s made packing all the more stressful. Still I’ve very proud of myself, I’ve been ruthless with my stuff. I’ve freecycled a foot spa, some bamboo birdcages and soon a leg toner apparatus gym type thing, I also threw out roughly 30 book sculptures, I can always make more I suppose. There are 12 bin bags for the nice council bin men to take away and I just know there’s much much more to go out next week.

Right enough chit chat, I’m going to find more stuff to sling.

When I was eight years old My dad told me that my half sisters had lived in the same house for more than twenty years, I just couldn’t believe it, we had always moved around and we had learned to adapt to change quite quickly, I just couldn’t fathom staying in one place for so long it felt so unnatural, so when he told me that growing up in the same home was usual for most people I was really surprised, moving house for me was one of the most usual things I could think of, we had always done it. So now I’m moving to my 36th house in 29 years, the last time I moved was 3 years ago but in that time I haven’t done any decorating or even putting many pictures up, I always used to have at the back of my mind that I would move eventually. I tend to find staying in one place unsettling, for me it encourages ‘making do’ or ‘not taking risks’. Staying in one place means that there is less opportunity to try new things, you accumulate junk that weighs you down. Sometimes I have moved because it felt like the thing to do, there was no reason to move, I just went with what felt natural.

I’m making a piece of work based on all the places I have ever lived, so here is a list of them from memory:

Grantham
Belvoir Cottages, Belvoir
Brixham Walk, Corby
Oakley drive, Cramlington
Pusan, Korea
Jin-hae, Korea
Jinhae Town centre, Korea
Seoul, Korea
Oakley Drive, Cramlington (2nd time)
Brixham Walk, Corby (2nd time)
Chalet x2, Ilfracombe
Chalet x4, Hemsby
Somerset House, Hensby
Caravan, Great Yarmouth
Scott Street, Langwith
Dudley Road, Grantham
Ford Escort, Roads
Lamb House, Cramlington
Dudley, Northumberland
Beacon Hill, Cramlington
Loftus House, Benwell
Elswick Road, Elswick
Wellesley Terrace, Fenham
Vallum Court, Fenham
Elswick Road, Elswick (2nd time)
Sidney Grove, Fenham
Wellesley Terrace, Fenham (2nd time)
Elswick Road (3rd time)
Egham Road, Chapel House
Woodlands Road, Glasgow
Nairn Street, Glasgow
Woodbine Street, Gateshead
Bentinck Road, Fenham
Phillip Street, Fenham
Jubilee Road, Gosforth
Fouracres Road, Cowgate
Wingrove Avenue, Fenham
Severus Road, Fenham
Otago Street, Glasgow
Normount Road, Fenham
Trewhitt Road, Heaton
Wingrove Avenue, Fenham

Oh right I’ve just counted them and it amounts to 40 homes (not including the car) and not 36, gosh that’s a lot isn’t it?