I am reading up on research to anchor my writing about ‘Home’ Oswald and Whal 2005 seems a good place to start. I have only got to page 11…….
There are fab statements and quotes like ” the home is an extension of self through place ( Fuhurer and kaiser 1992)
Home is a sense of community , of being involved with and tied to a geographically based social group – (Feldman 1996 p, 462)
Home is Identity related aspects of space ( Altman and Low1992)
Home/ place vocabulary
Territory
Locus in space
Social cultural unit
Centeredness
Focal point
Stable dimensions
Secure
Safe
Environmental mastery
Homesick
I added the last one as a protest to all the positive embodiment created by the rest if the list
This is making me think about our move in a different way. I hurt my feet twice in the first 6 months we were in Edinburgh. Jon didn’t move up with me , we had rented out our house, but his contract hadn’t finished. So for 3 weeks I found my self driven to acquaint my self with the environment .It was big, noisy beautiful and so different from Abingdon. I walked and walked and walked. I lost weight and got to know my immediate location. Then a couple of days before Jon arrived I got plantar fasciitis in my right foot, and in December bored with wearing trainers everyday I walked up the hill into Edinburgh in 2 inch heels …….
Suddenly my world of Georgian terraces and art galleries, second hand shops and bagpipes, got reduced to a small flat up 4 flights of stairs
Part of me thinks – almost a year in, that this must have partially been an unconscious rebellion over the move. Jon arrived, so I was safe and didn’t need to explore any more or set up house
December and Edinburgh foot was more serious, maybe I needed to retreat and consolidate? We had bought a flat and I was going ‘home’ for 10 days, I was missing everybody and feeling displaced and the honey moon period had worn off …..
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