In the shed
I have been clearing out my Grandfather’s shed as he has just gone into a care home. It has been interesting, slightly sad and thought-provoking in turn, as I have sifted through decades of accumulated ‘stuff’ which was saved and put aside because it was too good to throw away but not exactly useful…right now. My Grandfather’s shed was his own space and a place where all of the materials and equipment for his hobbies (which included DIY) had to live. I wasn’t allowed to go in there as a small child because it had ‘chemicals’ in it, and it seemed to acquire an air of mystery. There is a freedom to customise and decorate a shed which is not permitted in a house (at least not in my Grandmother’s house) and a make-do-and-mend attitude which I have always found most appealing. In my Grandfather’s shed everything had a place and it was carefully set out with utility and comfort in mind. Grandpa’s shed is about as far as possible away from the tasteful sheds of Country Living or the National Trust Magazine.
Jars of nails, screwed by their lids to a shelf…a repainted kitchen cupboard for storing compost…horlicks boxes used to store hose clips…a handy hook here…an old loo sign saying gentlemen there.. a nook for storing gardening boots here, and an apron for.. whatever (who wears an apron now to do decorating tasks?). You can see how the interior gradually evolved and ‘stuff’ multiplied as needs and interests waxed and waned. Sheds as a means of self-expression have been celebrated elsewhere (Men and Sheds (2002)by Gordon Thorburn comes to mind) so I won’t go on about it here or about the male space/shed issue interesting though it is. As a child I really envied that small personal space and wanted a shed and now at last I have one, as I am taking his shed down to move it to the allotment. Will it be a bit like a down-market version of Virginia Woolf’s Room of One’s Own I wonder?
Two favourite sheds I have visited have been author writing sheds- Dylan Thomas’ at Laugharne in Wales http://www.dylanthomasboathouse.com/english/boathouse/shed.html with the best view ever which would be way too much of a distraction for me, and Roald Dahl’s writing shed which is lovingly re-created at The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre where you can even get to sit in his armchair, or a re-creation of it http://www.roalddahlmuseum.org/ (ok I’m stretching it a bit..they may have called them ‘huts’ or ‘boathouses’ but to me they looked like sheds). I’m hoping ideas as well as plants will start to grow once I get my own shed.
escapedlibrarian 