Friday 19 September 2008

In Mitigation



Apologies for treading heftily on my colleague's toes - however, in mitigation, I did make these images available to him years ago in the hope that he might have something useful to say. What has prompted this cross-blogging is a need to top up the nostalgia trough. Mention elsewhere of old milk bottles drove me to rummage in the archive for this building - I just know that in the Frigidaire are at least a couple of the little foil capped beauties. Lurking on the shelf above is a piece of boiled ham or pressed tongue on a chipped plate under an up-turned pudding basin. God alone knows what's in the loft - but somewhere is a lovingly maintained Hornby OO layout - in fact as I took this shot I could pick out the distinctive sound of the Hoover Model 750 being put to use in the parlour after emptying the grate from last night's fire.
My spirits are always lifted by the site of any period-perfect property, very rare now, many having been spoilt with later additions or thoughtless fenestration replacements. This particular example comes complete with correctly proportioned and decorated garden shed and greenhouse, accessed via the raised-aggregate concrete path with cast in washing line poles. MORE DETAIL !

4 comments:

Peter Ashley said...

Love the house (looks like an OO model itself) and details. And the milk bottle. Are you still decanting, because my nearest post office in Medbourne still does foil capped beauties, with the intriguing legend 'Cotteswold Dairies' blind embossed on the glass flank. (Cue Wilko.)

Thud said...

cast in washing line poles....wonderful.

Peter Ashley said...

Ah, now then. I could go on about washing lines for some time. I much prefer them to those rotary thingies; there's simply nothing better than a line of crisp white shirts hoisted up in the wind by a notched wooden clothes prop. And funnily enough, only last night I read in 'The Heart of London' by Monica Dickens about 50's council block tenants abandoning their gas-heated drying cabinets for washing strung out on their balconies. And there is...(contnd p.94)

Diplomate said...

I had reason to pass this way the other day - I can confirm that the washing line has a pulley at the far end of the path with a cleat on the post alowing infinite and much needed adjustment to the line tension and subsequent height. Marvelous. MORE ADJUSTMENT ! Ooh- also the house next door has a sign propped against the hedge advertising the services of a masseuse.