No.74, Monday, 16th. February 2026

I am rarely satisfied with my home. It is comfortable and adequate for my needs but I am a perfectionist – and I have made mistakes in the furniture buying department. Mistakes that I cannot rectify by selling and buying new. I must make do with what I have, which is where, I suspect, most of us are.

This morning I find myself looking around me at the most difficult room in the house. It is a sitting room but I usually refer to it as my ‘music lounge’ – for want of a better name. It is a sitting room, library and music room; the place where I play my beloved records and CD’s, read my beloved books and lie down to think. It should also be my study, containing a desk with computer, photo scanner, photo printer and umpteen other such things. But that all languishes in the guest bedroom.

I have always dreamed of having a room – let’s call it a study – where I am surrounded by my books and I have a writing desk that faces a window with a view. I will never have it, so I compromise. I am in search of a place to live, but these are difficult times and I have been unsuccessful for some months. Homes for a person of my sensibilities seem rare and invariably not at a sensible rent. My bargain is simple: rent me a home and I will care for it and make it look good and live out my days in it. I just need to find the right person to put that proposition to.