MY IMAGINARY SHED

This time last year there was not a corner of my house that I could call my own. Whilst my home is of a reasonable size, especially following various encounters with builders over the 14 years that we have lived here, every square inch was inhabited by all six of us.

This was of no particular concern to me until I started work and subsequently my OU course. Before then, if I wanted some space I just went somewhere where no one else was. But once I had papers and coursework I began to see the need for somewhere from which I didn't have to pack up as soon as 3 'o clock approached.

And so after some thought and a wander about the place with a tape measure, I identified a space that might, at a push, get a desk in to it. And so my office was born. As you will see from the picture that I have rather cleverly managed to take, download, upload and insert (go me!), I have a table which is a metre square and can open out to 2m by 1m if the need arises. I have three shelves, a chair, a lamp, a pink orchid and a pen pot. My coaster bears the motive "I am quite unusually brilliant" which makes me smile every time I sit down and there is a sign hanging on the wall which identifies it as " Mum's Desk" in case of confusion.

And it's great. It's tiny but it's tidy and it's all mine and the children have even started to respect the invisible forcefield that protects it.

But you know how when you get something that you longed for, the glow that comes from having it gradually wears off and you start to crave something better? Well, my much desired desk is great but now what I really want is a shed!

There's been loads in the press about garden buildings recently. It's the news silly season and since we got knocked out of the football there's not been much to talk about. And I have read these articles wistfully. How magnificent would it be to have a whole room of my own at the bottom of the garden with a desk and a sofa for when I wanted to read and cushions and a coffee machine, maybe a little fridge, with my favourite pictures on the wall and a thick rug on the painted floorboards?

You see, now I'm off on a frolic. In my head, the shed is built and decorated and I have been on a shopping trip to purchase my accessories and I have written my first novel (which is a best seller) and passed my English degree (with a first) and Country Living magazine will seek me out to do an article on where I go to write and Mariella Frostrop will interview me for The Book Show and.....

But I don't have a shed. I have a desk in a space a metre square which, of course, I very much appreciate. And I have my dreams.