Jenny Lewis on tue 27 jan 04
Hi all
At last, after a bit longer than I had hoped, I will be moving house on
Friday, yippeee. No more living in London, which is a bit sad, but I have enjoyed
being here for more than 30 years and am ready for a change of scene. The
good thing is that I will be living not too far away, so can manage occasional
day trips for exhibitions or meeting visiting Clayarters, or whatever. I'll be
in Eastleigh, a small town halfway between Winchester and Southampton. Any
visitors to these shores should in future consider a trip to Hampshire -
Winchester is a beautiful small city, has the famous cathedral, Arthur's round table
(a copy, I believe!) and lots of Alfred the Great history, Jane Austen
connections, beautiful shops and old old OLD houses along the high street. Highly
recommended.
I am looking forward to setting up my new workshop. The house has a brick
shed at the back, about 12 ft x 6 ft which is not huge but I think it will be ok
to start with. Electricity yes, water no - so recent posts have been very
helpful, about using buckets of water of varying degrees of sludginess.
About car ownership - I have never wanted a car while living in London. Over
the past few years our public transport has deteriorated and the amount of
traffic has increased but even so, I have managed well by simply assuming that
any trip will take at least half an hour longer than it "should". By car it
could take forever. I never go anywhere without a book, newspaper, magazine, CD
player, bottle of water, apple or two... A strong carrier bag is essential,
but it all helps cope with the awfulness of some of the journeys. Pottery
selling over the last few years has been limited to craft fairs at work, so I
simply used to take in a few pots a day for a few weeks, until I had filled every
inch of spare space in my office. My colleagues thought I was odd. Oh well.
Where I'm moving to - in Hampshire, a small town about half way between
Southampton and Winchester - more people drive, but I will be close to the train
station and the town centre, and don't plan to buy a car just yet. I'll wait
and see how the pot making cottage industry goes!
I'll be switching off Clayart tomorrow night, ready to get the computer
packed on Thursday, and then Friday is The Day. Not sure whether to start feeling
nervous yet, or wait a while... oh what the heck, I'll start now.
Till soon,
Jenny Lewis
in London UK
for a few more days
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