It was on a school trip to Rothenburg that - on the hunt for a present for my mother - I wandered into a potter's workshop and got excited at the sight of lots of colourful mugs, bowls and vessels of all shapes and sizes. I bought a jug the shape of which really appealed to me and proudly took it home. My mum was happy too - until the day our cat knocked it off the window sill. Oh well.
I never forgot the pottery and in the exhausting years of self-employment that followed, my thoughts kept returning to that place, a little haven - it seemed to me - shielded from the stresses and strains that life dishes out in abundance. And I dreamt of escaping the rat-race and swapping it for a bohemian lifestyle making pots...
And then came 2011 and with it the chance to start working on the dream. So I plucked up my courage, said goodbye to my old life, knuckled down to learn something new.
And I'm so glad I did!
And I'm so glad I did!