Adam Stoner

Home

Listen on

Episode notes

Home isn't just a place. 

Home is more than the city you were born in, or the town you grew up in, or the street where your school was. It's more than the place where your bed is, or your stuff is, or your clothes are.

Home is subjective. 

Home is a bright spring morning in 2014, walking past the daffodils on Grafton Road in Cheltenham. 

Home is the taste of the local Indian takeaway or the smell of childhood holidays.

Home's the second after laughter in pub conversations with friends. 

Home's the way mid-winter sunset pierces through train windows as it dances between hills and middle-of-nowhere countryside villages.

Home is a feeling.

I'm now living in a new place. It's a new layout of walls and doors and appliances and it's very nice but it's not home. I didn't 'move home'; home moved with me. 

There's a moment in every house move where all of your belongings are in the back of a lorry – everything you own; a lifetime of things stuffed neatly into boxes – and you haven't yet gained access to the property on the other side. 

It would be easy to say that 'your life is in that van' but that's not true either... 

Your life is not the cast iron pot you were given for Christmas or the penknife you got for your birthday. 

Your life is not the collection of magazines or books or records or shoes or bags or tea towels you have.

Home, for me, is the pauses between moments – that intense sense of quiet contentment – and life, for me, is most lived in those moments. 

Moving was the biggest thing I did this month but I also had time for a few extras too...

I saw Queen of The Night, a Whitney Houston tribute act in Aylesbury last week. There was a full live band and backing singers with Elesha Moses singing as Whitney. It was great! 

The village where I lived prior to my move also hosted the International Pig Racing Festival at the start of the month. It's something they do every year but it happened to clash with the jubilee which meant more merriment than normal. Kevin Bacon won which is a crying shame because the name seems somewhat obvious. In previous years, Rasher Sunak has been a participant as has Albert Einswine. 

That event was hosted by Helen Browning, resident and organic farmer. They're hosting lots of other events too including wildlife photowalks, foraging expeditions, and gin safaris – they've just launched their own organic gin and it tastes great.

In other news, Activity Quest, the podcast I make at Fun Kids was nominated at the British Podcast Awards in a very grown-up category: Best Arts and Culture. Also, The Santa Daily, King Frank and the Knights of the Eco Quest, The Week Junior Show, and a commercial campaign we put together for Ed Sheeran's Mathematics Tour were nominated too. Results come on the 23rd.

You'll next hear from me on July 31st 2022.