The sun reappeared yesterday after a lengthy absence, throwing long shadows while Olga and I walked around the neighborhood. Clear skies mean colder temperatures, and it was chilly all day and below freezing last night. My phone says it's 28º F (-2º C) out there right now.
I put the cannas in the shed and brought in the geraniums. We covered the banana but didn't do anything to the tree fern. It's in a sheltered corner surrounded by windows so I'm sure it's fine.
I was going to walk yesterday but I started doing stuff around the house and I eventually gave up that goal for the day. Dave was on a conference call with his co-workers, so I had to single-handedly move all the potted plants on the south side of our patio so that the workmen could get to work on our exterior wall, which they did:
They removed the rotten wood trim, as you can see, and replaced it with fresh boards. They also found, in the corner at upper left, that the beams and floorboards beneath the neighbor's terrace (above our living room) are quite degraded. The neighbors and our landlords are going to have to do some reconstruction eventually, and when that happens, Dave and I may just move.
The lead builder also says he believes our living room wall moisture is actually coming up from the ground, not down the inside of the wall from the rotten trim. He says he sees slightly moldy walls like this all the time in England. I suppose that's what they call "rising damp." I don't know whether I believe him or not, but in any case, that problem has hopefully been addressed by their wall treatment and new paint. (And our dehumidifier.)
Such excitement! Can you stand it?! Be glad you're not hearing all the hammering and pounding.
I was recently looking back at a post I did exactly one year ago called "Who's Still Alive?" listing some aging celebrities who were still with us at that time. In the year since, we've lost several of the people I mentioned -- Norman Lloyd, Betty White, Cicely Tyson and Cloris Leachman. I think everyone else I named is still around, but it's interesting that Wikipedia has apparently stopped maintaining its page on "Living Actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood." That link no longer works. What a shame!
(Addendum: Wikipedia did indeed delete that page last September, and I found a page containing the reasons for the deletion -- basically the ambiguity of the "Golden Age" time period, uncertainty about who may or may not still be alive, and an argument that the article wasn't encyclopedic because when everyone dies it would eventually be empty. It's an interesting discussion in its own right.)
I’m glad the damp problem is being addressed, but it sounds like it just keeps morphing into something bigger. Is it difficult for you to contemplate a move in London? I wondered about a page of Living Actors from a certain period. It seemed like it would eventually have no reason to exist. (Not to mention, what is the Golden Age?)
ReplyDeleteWell, I think this problem with the neighbor's terrace doesn't need to be fixed immediately. It's a more eventual repair. Moving would be a drag but it's certainly doable.
DeleteNow I'm wondering how a patio can be above your living room. Intriguing thoughts there. Sounds like typical old British building. I bet it never had a damp course when it was built.
ReplyDeleteIt's not really a patio -- it's a terrace. I changed the post to reflect that. :)
DeleteAh, light dawns! Thank you. I remember growing up in England when damp was a perennial problem. My mom used to wipe the polished furniture in the bedroom with a solution of vinegar and water to remove the bloom caused by permanent damp. Never a problem of furniture cracking in hot dry indoor air.
DeleteIt's just a damp country, no doubt about it!
DeleteThat street is quite amazing. Do you have any idea how old it is, or the history of it?
ReplyDeleteIt's not very old. That housing estate was probably built in the '70s or '80s. I think they just cobbled the streets to give them some character.
DeleteInteresting that new buildings have been constructed and the setts left in place... or relaid.
ReplyDeleteYou will have to wait and see regarding the damp...at least curing the raised patio problem and using a dehumidifier will help your health..if the damp remains, the builder's surmise will be correct.
Those may be old cobblestones, but they were definitely relaid in recent decades when that council estate was built.
DeleteHaving neglectful neighbours upstairs can be painful for the people who live downstairs. On three occasions my daughter's flat in Wood Green suffered because of leaky plumbing and an overfilled bath upstairs.
ReplyDeleteWell, in their defense, I don't think they could see or know anything about this deterioration. It's underneath the terrace's paving stones. I would be incensed if my flat were damaged by an overfilled bathtub!
DeleteThe curse of the bottom flat...I hope this resolves your problem. I may get a dehumidifier.
ReplyDeleteIt's been remarkable to see how much humidity it removes. It's very effective.
DeleteThe rich and famous must tremble when they see their name on one of those lists.
ReplyDeleteHa -- I know! That's a sure sign that your time is coming!
DeleteWater is the worst. You think it's nothing until the floors cave in or the walls crumble. Glad they are fixing some of your issues, and your neighbor's as well.
ReplyDeleteI once read a book called "The World Without Us," which described what would happen to our landscapes if people suddenly vanished. The gist of it was that water would tear down a lot of residential construction in a very short time.
DeleteRenos are always so much fun, the mess, the chaos. Who doesn't love chaos?
ReplyDeleteHopefully the wall in your livingroom has been fixed. We have the opposite problem here, no humity. Right now in the house our humidity sits at 2%. No wonder my mouth is so dry in the morning.
I cannot imagine humidity that low! Ours never goes below 48 percent or so, and it's usually in the 60s.
DeleteReally? You are contemplating moving?
ReplyDeleteI hate it when workpersons are in the house or even in the yard. Of course they are always workmen but hey- let's be gender open here.
I'm feeling cranky today, obviously.
I love that picture of Olga.
We're not contemplating it imminently. But if they need to rebuild the roof of our living room we might not stick around. That's a huge job. I get the impression it's not a repair that's needed immediately, but we'll see.
DeleteRighteous Photo Of Olga Girl There Brother Reed
ReplyDeleteCheers
She always takes a righteous photo! LOL
DeleteLove that photo of Olga on the sunlit street.
ReplyDeleteThe downside of living in damp places... all that mold and deterioration. We see it here too in the foggy rainy persistently damp north coast. I'm glad that work is being done, just wish it could be done quietly.
I think we have similar climates. I keep thinking about your neighbor's vacant house with the hole in the roof. Yikes!
DeleteThe wikipedia logic escapes me, Everyone is going to die, I mean EVERYONE, of course. All Wikipedia is temporary.
ReplyDeleteLove the Olga brick photo, the sunshine is a welcomed sight. Now may a pretty good time to move, covid has emptied a few houses. But your location for work and dog walks could not be better right now! I love your neighborhood, Charming.
Well, I think that was their point -- a page of people "still alive" would eventually be empty, so why should that article exist? It is so nice to have some sun again, even briefly.
DeleteIt sounds like many of the buildings in your area may soon be beyond repair if nothing is done.
ReplyDeleteWell, they definitely require a lot of maintenance. Much of the housing in London is probably 100 years old or more.
DeleteAs I'm reading your comments about the hammering, I'm listening to the annoying and loud hum of the leaf blowers. The gardeners come on Thursdays and the sound of those machines is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see the sun casting long shadows.
Oh, leaf blowers are the WORST. Our next-door neighbors on both sides have gardeners who come weekly in summer and make an incredible racket.
DeleteRemind me again what kind of geraniums you have. When we had a swimming pool, I use to have pots of those pink/red flowering kind as decorations. They tolerated the heat well. I also tried growing some of those "scented" geraniums in my sunroom. I can't remember them flowering, but the leaves sure smelled good.
ReplyDeleteWe have five geraniums -- I honestly don't know what the varieties are called. One is a green/red variegated leaf, one has red flowers, one magenta, and two are bushier with single pink flowers. I don't know if that helps! (If you search geranium on the blog you'd probably scare up some pictures.)
DeleteThat portrait of Olga is so atmospheric! Rising damp may be a thing, but at least you will have forestalled it for a little while more when the hammering and drilling finally stops.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think this work will definitely help delay any further damage, at least -- even if it doesn't entirely solve the problem.
DeleteYou know me - I had to google "rising damp" and it seems like a complicated problem. Hope the work done will put a stop to it!
ReplyDeleteA friend at school had builders come to address his flat's "rising damp" and it WAS complicated and expensive!
DeleteI remember cobblestone streets like that from many many years ago. Olga isn't looking very excited to be there. I do believe she rather enjoys the parks. Enjoy your day, hugs, Edna B.
ReplyDeleteLondon still has cobbled streets in some areas. This is more of a parking lot, so cobbles there make more sense, maybe?
DeleteI can not comprehend moving in London. The difficulty of moving all of the plants is over whelming. With any luck it will not come to that. Olga looks really nice against the bricks.
ReplyDeleteThe plants would be the biggest challenge. I think we'd just leave some of them, honestly. (Particularly the ones in the ground!)
DeleteThe problem with mildew is probably because your couch is up against that outside wall. Is it the north side? Always worse on the north side. And I know structure work is a pain to live through but how can you possibly leave the garden?
ReplyDeleteActually, the couch is on the south wall, but yeah, I think it definitely contributes to the problem. We keep it pulled away from the wall a few inches to increase air flow.
DeleteI love the sun shining on the buildings. I miss that! It's been either massive snow or drenching rain since November. :(
ReplyDeleteI've missed it too! We haven't seen bright sun in a long, long time!
DeleteI suppose you can be grateful that you don't have to pay for the repairs.
ReplyDeleteThere is a good list maintained here about our celebrities who have died by a blogger, but it doesn't focus on a period of time. I think that is the problem with the Wikipedia page, or the one that was.
I guess we pay for the repairs through our rent, though, right? A list of celebrities who died makes more sense, because once they're dead it's permanent. A list of those "still alive" is much harder because it requires constant maintenance as they die.
DeleteI am glad you are getting some items fixed, but I know it must be driving you a little bonkers. Water can do such damage!
ReplyDeleteIt really can, and there's a lot of water here!
DeleteDrip-drip-drip.
ReplyDeleteMore seeping than dripping, but yeah...same idea.
Delete