Passing Through …

 Zoë Sharp

Ever since my house sold last year officially I’ve been of No Fixed Abode. Of course, one of the joys of being a writer is that you can carry out your chosen profession almost anywhere. In the past I’ve done just that, managing to scribble away while on planes or trains, or indeed in automobiles.

In fact, I once sent this pic in when asked by those fine folks at The Kill Zone for a shot of my workspace:

Judging from the comments, people obviously hadn’t quite cottoned on to the fact that in the UK we drive on the left-hand-side of the road, and therefore the right-hand-side of the car. I only ever worked on my laptop when in the front PASSENGER seat, just so you know, but these days I’m the driver anyway so that option is no longer open to me.

I’ve been looking for somewhere new to write – and to live, come to that – for almost a year now. As I said, it really doesn’t matter geographically where I live, so a lot of it boils down to personal preference.

Almost a case of lots of choice being too much choice.

At one point I would have said that I definitely was not a big city kind of person, but in recent years I’ve spent more time in both London and New York, and I’ve come to like the former ... 

... and love the latter.

But having lived in a very rural location for quite a while there’s something rather appealing about having views from every window, and not needing frosted glass in the bathrooms because there’s nobody to look in but a bunch of sheep. (Who, I soon discovered, are not easily shocked. Very easily amused, but not easily shocked …)

Of course, when I was younger I spent years living on a boat, and doing that again definitely appeals.

And last year I was lucky enough to spend some time in the Jordanian desert, which was a fabulous experience. This shot is now my desktop wallpaper:

I confess I felt more at home in the desert at Wadi Rum than I’ve done in years and I promised myself I’d go back. Of course, since then events have slightly overtaken Jordan and staying clear until things have settled down seems like a Good Plan.

So where does that leave me?

Well, at the moment I’m borrowing spare rooms, meandering around the country scrounging B&B from friends in return for doing the odd bit of DIY wherever I go – have tools will travel.

And the truth is that the longer this goes on the less I feel as if I belong quite anywhere.

So, given a choice, where would YOU live, and what’s behind your particular choice?

This week’s Word of the Week is argle-bargle, which is copious or meaningless words or writing.