26.10.2022 Serial home improvements exceed the sum of the parts.

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 Wednesday 26th 52F. Up st 5.30. Farm museum day.

 I forgot to mention that I put up the coat hooks in the hall. They had been beside the entrance door for years. Where bulky, down jackets impeded ingress and it was also a cold, outside wall. 

 So I have moved the coat hooks diagonally across the hall. Over to the internal wall nearer the kitchen. Being on the hinge side of the kitchen door maximises freedom of movement through the hall. There really is nowhere else to hang everyday jackets for easy access. Though I could take down that wall and make a cupboard under the stairs.

 You may well laugh, or even sneer, at my silly images of these very minor progressions. While I would argue that photographs give me a unique insight. Into what has been a largely unchanging vista for over two decades. Things show up, glaringly, in photos. Which my eyes no longer register. Unpainted surfaces and unfinished improvements. Cosmetic "untidiness" which would otherwise go completely unnoticed. 

 For example, I still haven't closed off the gap at the top of the wall. Where the original joist is badly skewed relative to the hall walls. So it remains unpainted. To remind me of another job to be completed. The slots formed by the profiled ceiling boards above the kitchen door need to be filled. They draw the eye upwards in an image. While going completely unnoticed as I move around the house. Where I am usually looking down to avoid obstacles.

 Filling the gaps in the woodwork is time consuming and demands patience. Once achieved and painted over, it lifts the appearance of that particular "component" of the house to very desirable invisibility. Hopefully without totally removing all the character of an older house.

 Besides which, these images represent a record of my clumsy attempts to make the place acceptably attractive. Lifting the hovel, little by little, by its own bootstraps. All my little projects form a series. Which may one day may prove vital. All adding up to persuade somebody to actually buy the place. Instead of it being abandoned to its fate. I also get to live in far more attractive surroundings during the twilight years I may have left. Where I am actually able to see indoors without needing a torch!

 One should not ignore the other advantages I gain personally. Empty time is filled with real purpose. Each project completed offers multiple rewards. I gain confidence for having achieved my small goals. I am hopefully making visitors feel more comfortable. With the potential to attract more. Or to reduce my inhibitions against inviting people to my home. For the first time in well over two decades.  

 Visitors aren't simply measured in numbers. They each drive me to improve the place as quickly and as well as I am able. There can be no more pretending. The visitor may be too polite to point out the hideously obvious. Yet they still see everything which jars in my images. Visitors do not get the carefully framed views which I share publicly. They must cower at the overall shabbiness. The lack of basic painting and decorating throughout. The inability to simply relax. Both their eyes and their expectations. An untidy house is a "noisy" house. We paint and decorate our homes to make them quiet to our senses.

 Which still leaves me with the colossal problem of all the boxes of "stuff." All the boxes and tubs full of china and glass. All the boxes and bookshelves filled to overflowing with books. I can't go on hiding it all forever. 

 What will become of it all? Do I hire or buy a shipping container and hide it all in a quiet corner of the garden? That may actually be easier than you think. Given the tree filled spaces to the north of the house. It is very tempting as a quick fix. Provided the delivery lorry could actually reach the spot without sinking. Or even knocking the house down in trying to get there! I could build another shed just for storage. 

 What if time and old age bring an end to my endless activities? What will become of it all then? Nobody else will have a clue what to do with most of it! Nor how to distribute it into the hands of those who would really value it. 

  8.00 Finally, it is light enough for a short walk under a leaden sky. Where I met my new neighbour in passing. I have been invited to a small neighbourly gathering nearer Christmas. I gratefully accepted. What a wonderful change to have intelligent, social and cheerful neighbours!!!

 14.00 Back from the farm museum. I started by cutting breeze blocks with a large angle grinder. Then it was onto leaf clearing. The huge trees drop drifts of the things everywhere. Followed up by window removal and storage. There is restoration work ongoing in ashed just inside the portal. The brick infill of the timber framing had become unstable and close to collapse. A highly skilled bricklayer and carpenter have been making the repairs over the last few weeks. Using recycled timbers where possible. Or green oak, where the timbers were structurally important.

 Then I was clearing the old kitchen, wash room and cellar of all the [heavy] historical equipment. Including a wooden washing machine over six feet long, four feet high and four feet wide. There were half barrel wash tubs over four feet wide. All being cleared in readiness for major structural repairs to several walls. Which have dropped or become unstable due to structural failure. The timbers at floor level are always subject to damp and woodworm.

 After that I was screwing the corrugated steel sheets to the machine room extension. The shed looks twice as big inside with the ends now covered. The sun came out later in the morning. Otherwise it would have been the first day without sunshine in all the time I have been volunteering at the museum. During the morning coffee break. In the long dining room. One of the lady volunteers asked me why I was so fit and strong. I told her it was due to all the projects I build. Usually working alone.

 17.00 After time on the computer and a nap I painted the downstairs chimney white. I made no attempt to fill it first. Just primed the rough mortar beforehand to let it dry. There are lots of dents, damaged corners and holes from screw fixing into the chimney in the past. I wanted it to be honest. Showing the history of the place. I shall see how I feel after a while of living with it white. 

 Those are computer cables dangling near the top. I had to paint behind them. So I just pulled them from their clips. I might be able to run the cables above the ceiling if I take the present, plasterboard tiles down. I am sick of the sight of the cables running along the exposed, ceiling beam. [Brown, near the top of the image above.] 

 The L-shaped lounge was once two rooms. Separated at the chimney into one very long room on the north side. With a smaller room facing south. Somebody put the timber beam up to support the bedroom floor after removing the dividing wall. It springs more than it probably should.

  It is far too dark for photography without flash. Even then the Lumix TZ7 flash isn't powerful enough. I'll take some better pictures tomorrow when it is light.

 Dinner was fried eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and boiled potatoes.

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