Ah, thank you for a wonderful reply Mudfun ! Isn’t this pla…

Ah, thank you for a wonderful reply Mudfun ! Isn’t this platform epic! So much more in-depth than X. Your reply reminded me that I used to build mud huts (and igloos in winter) all the time when I was a kid. I built a buried underground den—a hole with a bin lid and grass covering it and many mud and stone hut dens down by the canal. I was obsessed. I also had fires in them (and set fire to an entire field when I was 5 or 6 —oops!) and used to cook jacket potatoes wrapped in foil and sausages on them. I also had a jet cub boat as I was obsessed with going up and down the canals and adventuring generally. We used to get up to all sorts of mischief and would go Youth Hostelling on our own for 4-5 days at a time, long before mobile phones existed, walking 10-25 miles per day across the countryside. We would always be dropped off 30-50 miles away and walk home. I was a big fan of Lord of the Rings and believed myself to be a hobbit, I think, and used to sing the walking songs I’d heard when Lord of the Rings was a radio play. (The Road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began… etc.) So, yes, I think you’re right, it is in my bones. I used to imagine our local hill, The Cloud, was Hobbiton, and The Roaches (jaggedy hills that look like a dragon) were Mordor. I lived in America for a few years when I was young 7-9 and used to dream at night that I went down a slope in our apartment’s hallway floor and returned home to The Cloud and my life as a Hobbit living in Bag End built into the side of The Cloud. Wow, haven’t thought about that in years! I sound insane, lol. I was a kid at the time. I also used to muck out stables in exchange for rides and would ride up and down The Cloud on my favourite horse Tara. I had a very idyllic childhood I think, compared to kids nowadays, that allowed me a lot of freedom from supervision and my imagination ran riot. I think, even as an adult I’ve been craving dens. I built a treehouse and a log cabin for my two sons, and recently, during Covid converted my garage into my woman cave and office, which I absolutely love. Thank you for re-awakening those memories for me! It is a very primal feeling of wanting to own land and build a partially underground house.

Sorry for losing your first post by the way. I’ll press post on this one, before I lose it too, and continue in another.