Meanwhile, back in Tackleway...

Scaffolding on the front of No.s 7 and 8

 

Hastings Old Town is a maze of scaffolding at the moment: in addition to our two houses, and that of our neighbours at No. 11, who are doing a major refurbishment, there is a network of scaffold poles on another neighbour's house at the back, not to mention the Crown Inn behind.  "Elfen safety", is the recurring phrase.  Working off a ladder is so old-fashioned.

 

So, while paedophilia and energy price-rigging scandals rage in the UK; while the populations of EU countries take to the streets to protest against austerity, and missiles fly between Gaza and Israel, not to mention Syria; while the Americans fret about their fiscal cliff and China changes its leadership; we are preoccupied with the more domestic concerns of doing up the Shoebox and Matchbox.  In the Shoebox every room on the upper three floors now has the south-facing wall stripped back to the brick, so that slats can be fixed before the plastering starts - three coats of lime plaster, each taking a couple of weeks to dry.  On Monday a separate contingent of workmen is due to appear for the installation of the new kitchen in the basement, together with an electrician who is to redo lighting throughout.  In the Matchbox the façade is being painted to match the Shoebox and a number of sash windows have to have the boxes replaced, since they are suffering from rot.

 

The lessons we learnt when redoing our house in Ribérac can be summarised as: understand the old forms of construction so that repairs are consistent with the original logic;  don't take short cuts since it will prove more expensive in the long run; and keep up the maintenance rather than letting things decay.  Simple really.  But very different from the "botch and skimp" mentality that seems to be prevalent with a lot of houseowners.

 

The chaos will be continuing until the end of the year, which means that we acquire increasing intimacy with builders.  This has its amusing moments: such as when the carpenter innocently asked whether our dog Balzac is named after a Disney character; or when a kitchen installer said he was glad there was a loo nearby since he suffered from a bladder complaint -  the words "too much information" seem unknown in the construction business! 

 

Antony Mair