More trouble at t'mill...

As soon as the kitchen floor was sorted, the investigations in the hall showed up another dire set of circumstances.   Apart from the woodworm and the death watch beetle damage, there is damage to the joists caused by the high level of soil under the floor.   Excavation has shown that there's hardly a salvagable joist in the hall and the staircase is supported on a wing and a prayer!   Ah, well.   Nothing that money can't fix...now where's my lottery ticket!

The hall 'floor'

Digging down

Temporary supports

Holding up the stairs

And holding up the wall

Upton House Family Visit

Saturday 16th July 2016 was a great family day out at Upton House.  There were 19 of us - all related in some way to my father Barney Adler - and we were looked after very well by the staff at Upton.  ,
Peter and I arrived first, quickly followed by Eliot, Nancy, Abe and Saul.  Sadly we had only time for a quick hug before we had to dash away and meet a couple who's grandfather had worked for the same bank as my father and who had also spent some of the war years at Upton House.  While we were talking to them in the restaurant, the rest of the family arrived and then we were treated to lunch, courtesy of the National Trust.   Then it was off to the house for free entry and the tour.

Upton House was transformed into the Country House Bank, recalling the years when the staff were moved out of the city of London to Upton to escape the bombing.  My father had written about his time there in his 'memoirs' and some of his stories had formed the basis for the exhibition.  Peter and I had heard the tour before when we went for the opening, but Barney's grandchildren and great-grandchildren were fascinated.   Ann Thomas, a volunteer with responsibility for oral history, was our guide and she had been my contact while the exhibition was taking shape, checking facts with me and asking for photographs.  The great-grandchildren ranged in age from 3 to 7 so there were some understandable moments of inattention!   Ann coped with noise, and questions and touching!

Barney and Joyce, my parents

This was my third visit to Upton House and I always come away feeling sad that my parents didn't live to see their own story captured in this way.

The family gathers for lunch

The start of the tour

In the 'banking hall'

My father's desk...

Boys reading

Supposedly, my father's bed

More introductions

The work continues

We are now in week 5 of the building works and although things are happening, it does seem to be taking a long time.    Achievements so far include:

• Repairing a lovely old brick and flint wall
• Removing and replacing raised beds - doing away with the crumbling bricks and replacing the sides with timber
• Removing more unloved plants and broken pots
• Laying new paving and brick edging for a shingled area 
• Making a new kitchen floor which is dampproof
• Dampproofing the walls in the kitchen and one of the sitting room walls
• Taking up floor boards here, there and everywhere and discovering rotten joists, woodworm and death watch beetle to name but a few! 
• Making safe the old electrical system and getting ready for the electrics for the new kitchen
• Moving lights to more suitable places
• Measuring up the new kitchen cabinets
• Replacing worn bricks in the outside wall

Well, when it's all listed they do seem to have done quite a bit, but the house is in turmoil with all our belongings being shifted from one side of the living room to another, beds being up-ended and bedding stuffed into cupboards and tools everywhere.  We want our house back!   And clean!

We are also anxious to get on with some of the work we want to do ourselves, but we're having to be patient. 

Only one things has gone slightly wrong and it's being put right this week, we hope.   The raised beds were filled with top soil which had no organic matter in it.  None of the builders seemed to understand the need for compost/soil improver in the mix, although the landscaper where they bought the soil could have told them.   It seems we were all new to the requirements for raised beds and I hadn't thought to check as the company is very well known and of long standing.   I assumed they had done this before.   They are the Queen's builders for heaven's sake!

Moaning over!  On the plus side, all the builders are extremely pleasant and careful.   I've started taking a cake down when we make our weekly visit, to keep them sweet! 

Conference in the kitchen

The garden taking shape

The new kitchen sub floor

The central raised bed.