The Night Mail

[SM42]

7 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

So when's the east wing due to be decorated then Andy?

 

Just asking as I believe someone might be in the market for some magnolia 'thinning'.

 

The east wing is at furnishing stage.

 

Paint wise just a couple if little areas to touch in.

Work and a stinking cold  are  slowing progress

 

West wing is progressing slowly. Stored items therein are starting to move back to the east wing. 

 

Hopefully by Monday more things will be in their proper places meaning I will be able to do more painting. 

 

Andy

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

 

I've got £2.50 and 15 litres of pink emulsion 

 

Andy

Is the pink paint for the model railway suite?

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Twin of yours?

Sadly not.

 

About three times as big as ours and half the size of Hunt Towers.

[SteveyDee68]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Talking of houses, the house three doors down on the opposite side of the road has just come on the market:

 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?searchType=SALE&locationIdentifier=REGION^13142&insId=1&radius=0.0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&minBedrooms=&maxBedrooms=&displayPropertyType=houses&maxDaysSinceAdded=&_includeSSTC=on&sortByPriceDescending=&primaryDisplayPropertyType=&secondaryDisplayPropertyType=&oldDisplayPropertyType=&oldPrimaryDisplayPropertyType=&newHome=&auction=false

What caught my eye in the description was double garage with first floor gym … and immediately thought “railway room”!

 

My sister lived just outside Telford (before moving to Ironbridge) and having visited her on multiple occasions I find I really do like it around there (even if one roundabout ends up looking like another - thank God for satnav!). Plus it’s ever so handy for the Gauge O Guild annual jamboree!

 

Right … best purchase myself a (jackpot winning) National Lottery Ticket!

 

Steve S

 

PS

Don’t care what you all say, I’d be delighted to have the likes of Happy Hippo as a neighbour!

PPS

According to Google Maps, this wasn’t built a year ago!! So, it would appear that the builder has got around massive capital gains tax by living in it after completion and then selling it on! I’ve changed my mind - it appears to be right next door to a carpentry business (noisy, dusty?)

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by SteveyDee68
Second thoughts!!

[BR60103]

9 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

There was an annual garlic festival in Gilroy, California.

 

Where's the "I don't want to know that." button?

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, BR60103 said:

 

Where's the "I don't want to know that." button?

 

What? You mean you don't like garlic flavor ice cream?

 

[AndyID]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Talking of houses, the house three doors down on the opposite side of the road has just come on the market:

 

 

Compared to some of the places around here it's not very expensive 😀. It seems everyone who is anyone has to own a place on the lake, even if they only stay in it three weeks a year.

 

We had this little new build place in Southern California but we were only in it for two years. Lorna was not a happy camper when I told her we were flipping it to finance my retirement. The square building to the left was a stand-alone guest house which would have made a great railway room but Lorna immediately commandeered it for her swearing sewing room.

 

[iL Dottore]

9 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Talking of houses, the house three doors down on the opposite side of the road has just come on the market:

 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?searchType=SALE&locationIdentifier=REGION^13142&insId=1&radius=0.0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&minBedrooms=&maxBedrooms=&displayPropertyType=houses&maxDaysSinceAdded=&_includeSSTC=on&sortByPriceDescending=&primaryDisplayPropertyType=&secondaryDisplayPropertyType=&oldDisplayPropertyType=&oldPrimaryDisplayPropertyType=&newHome=&auction=false

 

I had a look at the property and enjoyed the VR walkthrough (although I would have thought it unwise to have so many portable [and undoubtedly expensive] toys on display, an invitation to any tea-leaf I would think).
 

But something about the property didn’t look quite right. But I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Then the penny dropped: it’s the combination of brick bond used, the colour of the bricks and the absence of chimneys. The house looks like it was built by someone who had read about British vicarages and villas but hadn’t actually seen one.
 

The other thing that struck me was the interior walls were all white - again something that just seems wrong in such a property - I think it should have traditional style wallpaper at least (I think such house should also have a fair amount of wood panelling - but I’m not sure it that it would work).

 

I won’t comment on the interior design, furnishings and decor (de gustibus non disputandum est and all that)

 

I showed the pics to Mrs iD who murmured “it has potential” - which is Mrs iD speak for “gut the lot and restart” (Mrs iD’s father was a bauIngenieur - and often took her on site - so Mrs iD knows more about houses - and building them - than estate agents would like her to know. If a house has a hidden problem? Mrs iD will find it!).

 

I think traditional British vernacular architecture is definitely amongst the most attractive in the world. An Edwardian, Victorian or Georgian rectory or vicarage (suitably modernised) would be an enjoyable house for when I’m retired (although I’d have to move it, lock, stock and barrel, to CH)

[iL Dottore]

Following on to my post above - when I was building the Georgian Terraced Houses (scratchbuilt) for my layout (there’s a number of posts on it, with photos) in researching them, I did an awful lot of reading and found out some very interesting things. One of which was that in London in the Georgian era, housing stock was often built on leased ground (most often a 99 year lease) and often using second quality bricks which were then hidden by the plaster facade finished to look like expensive stone cladding. They werent expected to last* (it's amazing how much has). The same can be said of much Victorian and Edwardian housing stock.

 

I wonder how much of the housing stock built since the 1950s/60s will survive as long as a Georgian era builder’s “speculator’s rubbish”? Already a lot of the Brutalist architecture of the 50s has been or is being torn down.

 

In a way it‘s ironic that houses (and other buildings) made using hand tools, back breaking labour and traditional materials have lasted longer than any modern house - built with power tools, labour saving machinery and modern materials are expected to last (about 60 years according to propertyregistry.co.uk)

 

*Another interesting fact I learnt during my research was that investing in speculative property was one of the few ways a successful, prosperous and sensible Georgian Courtesan could invest her earnings.

[Happy Hippo]

6 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

According to Google Maps, this wasn’t built a year ago!! So, it would appear that the builder has got around massive capital gains tax by living in it after completion and then selling it on! I’ve changed my mind - it appears to be right next door to a carpentry business (noisy, dusty?)

 

Google maps show cars on the drives of a houses near the Hippodrome which date the aerial picture to about 18 - 24 months ago as the family moved out around that time.  The Hippodrome's old polycarbonate conservatory roof is still in place which would seem to confirm this. 

 

The house in question has been inhabited by two generations of one family since it was built by a local builder and were sold before they were finished.

 

I make more noise than the self employed carpenter who spends most of his working day away from home.

 

The last decade saw an increase in the number of plots being sold off along the lane, culminating with a number (7) of large properties being built on the opposite side of the road to the Hippodrome.  Four have been built so far, one is in build and we still have two to go.  The downside of this is having had continual building works going on with all the construction traffic going up and down the lane, which is a cul de sac for the last five years.  I suspect it will be another two years before the current set of builds are complete.  Then of course, there is another couple of plots  further down the lane, again owned by English Partnerships, which will probably be released for sale.

 

At least when you buy on an estate, the whole area is built on and finished in a very short time frame.

 

From a mercenary point of view, all these big houses add an element of exclusivity to the place and pushes the other local house prices up.

[Mike Bellamy]

7 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

Plus it’s ever so handy for the Gauge O Guild annual jamboree!

 

Not any more - Guildex moved to Stafford in September . . . . . . . 

.

[polybear]

9 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I showed it to Aditi. She didn’t like it, so we won’t be moving to Shropshire. 

 

It'd take ages just to keep the place clean and the garden tidy.  Unless you had staff (with all the expense, aggro and risks that brings) you'd have very little time to do anything else.

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I wonder how much of the housing stock built since the 1950s/60s will survive as long as a Georgian era builder’s “speculator’s rubbish”? Already a lot of the Brutalist architecture of the 50s has been or is being torn down.

 

 

There are 1980's houses close to Bear Towers that have already been underpinned.....

[polybear]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Following on to my post above - when I was building the Georgian Terraced Houses (scratchbuilt) for my layout (there’s a number of posts on it, with photos) in researching them,

 

Sadly - unless the posts are recent or the OP has been back and fixed them - photos tend to be lost.  Is this the case for your thread @iL Dottore?

[DenysW]

8 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

According to Google Maps, this wasn’t built a year ago!!

According to Google maps an outpost of my previous funhouse is still in the state it was in before it was completely rebuilt into a different outline in 2007. For that one (in rural North Lincolnshire) Bing maps were more reliable.

[New Haven Neil]

11 minutes ago, DenysW said:

According to Google maps an outpost of my previous funhouse is still in the state it was in before it was completely rebuilt into a different outline in 2007. For that one (in rural North Lincolnshire) Bing maps were more reliable.

 

Yes, the 2021 dated view of our house shows a car we sold years ago!

[SteveyDee68]

Google Maps does seem to lag behind the real world somewhat - my previous house showed the previous occupant’s cars parked on the drive until I moved out* and only recently changed to show the cars we had when we originally moved in!!

 

Mind you, if we saw real time images I suppose everybody would be worried that Big Brother was watching them from above!

 

 

* Or, rather, tricked into moving out!

Edited December 2, 2022 by SteveyDee68

[Tony_S]

The aerial view on Google maps for our road is quite recent as it shows our solar panels. The street level view states April 2019 and could well be as it shows the garage doors we and other neighbours had replaced around then. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Tony_S

[PhilJ W]

9 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

What caught my eye in the description was double garage with first floor gym … and immediately thought “railway room”!

 

My sister lived just outside Telford (before moving to Ironbridge) and having visited her on multiple occasions I find I really do like it around there (even if one roundabout ends up looking like another - thank God for satnav!). Plus it’s ever so handy for the Gauge O Guild annual jamboree!

 

Right … best purchase myself a (jackpot winning) National Lottery Ticket!

 

Steve S

I thought 'railway room' as soon as I saw the pic.

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Following on to my post above - when I was building the Georgian Terraced Houses (scratchbuilt) for my layout (there’s a number of posts on it, with photos) in researching them, I did an awful lot of reading and found out some very interesting things. One of which was that in London in the Georgian era, housing stock was often built on leased ground (most often a 99 year lease) and often using second quality bricks which were then hidden by the plaster facade finished to look like expensive stone cladding. They werent expected to last* (it's amazing how much has). The same can be said of much Victorian and Edwardian housing stock.

 

I wonder how much of the housing stock built since the 1950s/60s will survive as long as a Georgian era builder’s “speculator’s rubbish”? Already a lot of the Brutalist architecture of the 50s has been or is being torn down.

 

In a way it‘s ironic that houses (and other buildings) made using hand tools, back breaking labour and traditional materials have lasted longer than any modern house - built with power tools, labour saving machinery and modern materials are expected to last (about 60 years according to propertyregistry.co.uk)

 

*Another interesting fact I learnt during my research was that investing in speculative property was one of the few ways a successful, prosperous and sensible Georgian Courtesan could invest her earnings.

When I was house hunting about forty years ago I looked at some part built properties. I didn't look for long as I didn't like what I saw. The houses were a softwood frame with chipboard floors and a none supporting brick skin. I eventually settled on a cottage in Burnham-on-Crouch built in 1862. 

[coastalview]

16 hours ago, Tony_S said:

My Dad must have had thousands of those Golden Virginia tins!

Old Holborn for my Dad, still got some of them around

[jamie92208]

The Google earth view of our plot has been updated as it shows the new pool.  Of course a lot of the plot is taken up with the railway hangar.

 

Jamie

Edited December 2, 2022 by jamie92208

[Adam88]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Following on to my post above - when I was building the Georgian Terraced Houses (scratchbuilt) for my layout (there’s a number of posts on it, with photos) in researching them, I did an awful lot of reading and found out some very interesting things. One of which was that in London in the Georgian era, housing stock was often built on leased ground (most often a 99 year lease) and often using second quality bricks which were then hidden by the plaster facade finished to look like expensive stone cladding. They werent expected to last* (it's amazing how much has). The same can be said of much Victorian and Edwardian housing stock.

 

 

My parents' house was Edwardian leasehold and when the 99 years were up he was offered first refusal to buy the freehold.  That was an easy choice to make as we could imagine that some unscrupulous soul would have have come in and jacked up the lease or started trading it to speculators.  When the time came it also made it that much easier to sell.  It was a very well built, elegant house and I think my parents chose it partly because they had both seen so much shoddy Gerry building in the inter-war years.  It would cost a king's ransome to keep warm in 2022 though.

[Tony_S]

Aditi asked me to mention that it was only the house near the Hippodrome she didn’t like. She is very fond of Shropshire and used to regularly take her geography students there for fieldwork. 
 

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, coastalview said:

20 hours ago, Tony_S said:

My Dad must have had thousands of those Golden Virginia tins!

Old Holborn for my Dad, still got some of them around

Balkan Sobranie in my late father's shed.  Round tins which he found easier to hold and open but at the same time disliked because of the "wasted" space compared with storing rectangular tins.  He also had a huge number of Golden Virginia and Old Holborn tins.  

 

When we were obliged to clear out his shed - into which he seldom ventured for the last 20 or so years of his life - we had to check each and every tin in case it contained anything of value or use.  Nephew the Eldest, who is a handy wood-worker, got first dibs.  He assured us there was nothing worth keeping.  When I got to look I found shelf upon shelf laden with mostly near-empty tins.  His father had been an engineer and he served the first couple of years of an apprecticeship before being called up for National Service.  

 

So as his father had taught him he had religiously maintained separate tins for each and every size and kind of screw, nail, nut, washed, bolt and other bits.  All labelled.  You want a ⅞" round wire bright-head nail?  Yup - there's three in the tin!  Most of what there was carried tarnish and rust.  Frankly it wasn't going to be worth re-homing the lot (for such small quantities in most cases) and to have mixed them and condensed the sequence would have been self-defeating.  So, once any unsuitable items had been removed, the whole lot went for recycling.  

[BSW01]

The aerial Google Earth shot of my house must have been taken between 2012 and 2015 judging by the car shown at the front of the house. The roadside photo is from between 2017 and 2019 as it shows my current car and the front door before it was painted green. 

[Gwiwer]

Oh.  Not a lot to day here then.  Sorry.  

Edited December 2, 2022 by Gwiwer