Wher e do we stand on …

pod living?

Ever feel like you want to be where other people aren’t? Dream of escaping the annoying masses, and just closing the door on the hubbub outside?

Well, it seems we’re one step further into our national transformation into pod people, with an increasing number of solo structures catering for human-shunning individuals looking to just get away from it all.

Whether it’s for napping, meditation, work or play, openplan offices up and down the country have seen the sudden appearance of a number of suspicious glasssided pods, allowing us to finally bid farewell to our desk frenemies and live in a transparent prison for all to gawk at.

Pod life has seeped into the nation’s primary schools, too. Recently, Harlow Longwood Primary Academy announced they had installed a new meditation pod – presumably to give the little ones some respite from the unbearable stresses of … playtime and nap corner? Hotel chains have eyed up this “cosy” living approach, too, with British outposts beginning to copy the capsule-style stays favoured in Japan. Premier Inn recently announced a new offshoot, Zip, offering pod-style rooms, located on the outskirts of big cities and towns: for only £19 a night and measuring up at less than half the size of a standard Premier Inn room (that’s a teeny 8.5 square metres), the diminutive size is surely only preferred because of its matching price tag.

In our ever-crowded cities, where space is at a permanent premium, could this signal a new frontier for urbanites?

Let’s hope not, I’ve become quite attached to my double duvet…