The King, a kangaroo and a surfing Santa: I unearthed my childhood stamp collection – and found memories of my grandmother too

‘They seemed so exotic; intrepid, even. These tiny, functional artworks that had traversed countries and continents to shepherd the mail to its destination’: A selection from Roland Bull’s stamp collection. Photograph: Roland Bull

I had two weeks to prepare for my medical school exams. Two weeks of blissful solitude at home, with nothing to do but revise. I sat down, opened my laptop … and immediately began to glance around for a distraction.

I’ve long been a masterful procrasti-cleaner, but distraction was difficult to find because my house is generally quite spick and span. I wandered into my beautifully curated storage cupboard to grab the vacuum cleaner – surely the floors could use a once-over? Little did I know that lurking at the back was an unexpected addiction.