Thursday, December 9, 2021

Barriers


I'm on a roll with photography after dark, since the sun has set by the time I walk home from work around 5 p.m. I took the shot above on Abbey Road in St. John's Wood. That tree seems a little over-fortified, doesn't it? Lawyers!

At least the barriers create some nice shadows.

Yesterday I had to race home around noon to meet a handyman sent by our property manager. He wanted to assess the rotten wood on the outside of the house and check on the moisture issue. I showed him around for a few minutes and then he left. Nothing will happen until he gets the approval of our landlords, and with the holidays coming up I suspect any work may be delayed into the new year. At least now we're dehumidifying. (Which, by the way, feels fantastic -- like air conditioning!)

37 comments:

e said...

Good luck with your repair.

Anonymous said...

The fence won't deter anyone intent on vandalising the tree but I suppose it will stop a casual grab at it by a passer by.

I read that when you first turn on air con for cooling, for about fifteen minutes they first dehumidify the air. I believe that as if you put your air con to dehumidify it feels like normal air conditioning.

Moving with Mitchell said...

Hope the repairs happen quickly. As for those barriers, one would think someone could have come up with something more aesthetic... and effective.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Is it possible to dehumidify a human brain as mine is often rather foggy? Perhaps there are miniature dehumidifiers that can be implanted like microchips - just below the surface of the skull. Afterwards thinking becomes sharp and incisive.

Debby said...

Interesting to me how landlords (at least here) avoid making repairs as long as possible in the interest of frugality. It has never made sense to us. Ignoring rotting wood and water damage allows unseen building damage to really gain a foothold. After a few years, a relatively straightforward repair has turned into a major problem.

Tasker Dunham said...

Glad the dehumidifier is good. I might have missed it but what model did you get?

Bob said...

It's Christmas! Don't touch!!!

Still a pretty picture though.

ellen abbott said...

There's just something wrong about putting barriers around a christmas tree.

Ellen D. said...

I like all of the sparkling lights in your photo especially back behind the tree there. Maybe they shouldn't put a tree in the middle of the sidewalk? At least they are trying to be festive!

Ms. Moon said...

I went to the Bad Girls Thrift Store yesterday. Thought of you. I didn't find one darn thing I even vaguely wanted. Slim pickings.
That is a pretty tree but yeah- those barriers are off-putting.

Sharon said...

The people who put up that tree must have heard what happened to the Fox News holiday tree in New York. No burning trees for them.
Good to hear that your landlords at least sent someone to check it out.

Anonymous said...

I love seeing your night photography. Pretty shadows and lights.
It surprises me every year how the holidays change the flow of everything.

Red said...

My only beef with humidifiers is that they are very noisy.

Ed said...

Lawyers, thieves or mischief makers. My vote is that the fence is to prevent the latter group.

Margaret said...

I have two industrial dehumidifiers and three huge fans in my house right now. It isn't fun and it's horribly noisy. But it IS drying out my leak. :( As Debby says, waiting is the worst thing the landlords could do.

Kelly said...

The barrier is a bit distracting, but yes... the lovely shadows are the silver lining.

Re: YP's brain dehumidifier. Sign me up when they become available!

Mage said...

So glad it is working so well.

jenny_o said...

I'm glad to hear your dehumidifier is working well. They really are efficient machines. Now I hope you get your wood rot problem fixed before too long. January might sound like a long time away but I think that's just because there's so much happening between now and then. A month or two normally flies by, I find. So much so that I'm constantly wondering where the last month went to.

Steve Reed said...

I'll let you know how it goes! (If it ever happens.)

Steve Reed said...

Yeah, I guess it forces people to keep their distance. It just seems counterproductive to erect something meant to be pretty and then imprison it behind metal bars.

Steve Reed said...

Right? Velvet ropes, maybe?

Steve Reed said...

God knows I could use THAT device!

Steve Reed said...

Well, exactly! I guess the trick is knowing when a problem could lead to more damage vs. one that won't, and that's not always clear.

Steve Reed said...

To quote Amazon, it's the "VonHaus 12L/Day Dehumidifier - Timer & 2L Extraction for Moisture, Damp & Mould Control."

Steve Reed said...

We can be jolly, but not TOO jolly.

Steve Reed said...

I agree! It's like when we taped off the library shelves last year for coronavirus and wouldn't let anyone touch the books. Kind of defeats the purpose!

Steve Reed said...

I do like the light in the photo. I was so focused on getting the shadows on the ground that I almost cut off the top of the tree!

Steve Reed said...

Well, thrift stores are like that, aren't they? Sometimes they're a goldmine and sometimes not. I wore my BGGSBJ shirt yesterday!

Steve Reed said...

That Fox tree story was wild! I haven't seen a lot of the details but it seemed like the tree burned awfully vigorously.

Steve Reed said...

It can be interesting to take pictures at night, for sure. Streetlights (and other lights) create a lot of interesting effects.

Steve Reed said...

Yeah, this one has a fan, but it doesn't bother us, really. It's a kind of white noise -- a background sound.

Steve Reed said...

Yeah, probably. They don't want kids swinging on it -- or drunk people stumbling home from the pub.

Steve Reed said...

Oh, yikes! That doesn't sound fun! Yeah, it's better to catch problems before they get worse.

Steve Reed said...

I think they need to find a better spot for the tree. Just plunking it in the middle of the sidewalk like that isn't the best solution! Then they might not need the barriers.

Steve Reed said...

So far, so good!

Steve Reed said...

Yeah, and some of the moisture that will come down during that time is likely to be frozen. Maybe it won't penetrate the building as readily?

Edna B said...

I hope by the time the work is done that there isn't too much damage inside the walls. That was nice of someone to decorate a tree right alongside the sidewalk for everyone to enjoy. Have a super day, hugs, Edna B.