Moving again, accommodating staff

I do wonder, why we read so little

nowadays in our interior design per-

iodicals, of the problems of accom-

modating household staff. Even the

architecture websites, for all their

endless regard for second and third

residences, inexplicably pay almost

no attention to this apparent after-

thought of domestic planning. We en-

joy the most exhaustive support for

our selection of paints, and natur-

ally of fabrics, so I wonder why a

nod to the sub-domestic necessities

is almost nowhere to be found. I im-

agine, our people's lack of a trade

association or union - constituent

features, these days, of so-called

stakeholders -- may play some part

in their invisibility, despite the

best efforts of the Social Security

Administration. For all the wear and

tear upon one's own decision-making

powers in the laying out of various

rooms, I cannot recall so much as a

moment of concern in my present move

for accommodating a valet, and yet

when now I examine my plans, I note

only some fuzzy assumptions about

storage space and walk-in closets,

which I suppose have always served.

I'm fortunate, I suppose, in derma-

otological advice to avoid a con-

servatory at my age, and in a lack

of need for fur storage since the

invention of ersatz fleece, so I'm

less concerned about my negligence

than merely mildly embarrassed. At

least the pictures have their walls.