We Have a Loft

Well, the large / navvy hut loft is finished, complete with staircase access.   This has produced immense storage capacity.   I have sorted all my 'cannot throw away/ come in useful sometime' goodies into those red lidded buckets and there is still an enormous amount of storage space left.

Note the two chandeliers.   Very effective workshop lighting and definite talking points.   All done in the best possible taste of course.

And, we even have a mighty great block and tackle hoist to lift things up and down.  

                            

A Settlescape

This is part of a Settlescape that has appeared for sale on the local website.    For very obvious reasons I think it is lovely!

What an honour to see that we have been counted among this artist's iconic images of our town.

Welcome to a Special New Follower

One of the fascinating aspects of having a Blog is that you can get a picture of who is looking at it and where in the world they are.   Not who by name though, unless they register as a 'follower'.   Delighted to see that the most recent follower is my 12 year old grandson James Mark (I really appreciated that) Gavin.    Welcome James.   I shall take even greater care what I say from now on.

The worldwide audience remains interesting.   Russia has piped down a lot with all that Trump hoo-ha but a surprise outsider is Brazil.   I wonder if it has been shown on TV there?

Meanwhile, here is James Mark Gavin getting the feel of Gladys Emmanuel.   The car that is, not the nurse.

POTUS is a F.A.C.

Our darling daughter Lorna

has just put the following on Facebook for the World to see.   The Ben referred to is our sweet little grandson - a student at Gerrards Cross Church of England Primary School:

Me to Ben: 'Describe Donald Trump in three words'.

Pause from Ben.

Ben: Farty. Arsehole. Carrot. 

Now, normally I don't approve of my boys swearing, of course. But this time, all I could do was nod with approval and shake my son's hand.

I do hope that provides a chuckle to our Blog followers at GCHQ, the Kremlin and the Pentagon.   There are enough trigger words in this post to register on their systems, surely?

The View That Keeps On Giving

Twilight today from the top of the water tower.

click to enlarge

Happy Boys

I somehow missed posting this lovely picture back in May on James' (left) birthday.   Brother Ben seems to approve too.

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Our two grandchildren are a source of constant delight.   Almost.

We Are An Example

This article has appeared in the Bournemouth Echo

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/15653101.Parkstone_Water_Tower_could_be_converted_into_an_apartment_complex__and_here__39_s_what_it_could_look_like_/#comments-anchor

A very handsome, but endangered Listed water tower in Poole may be made into apartments and we are quoted in the proposal as one of two examples of how good such conversions can be.

click to enlarge

Looks as though they plan to use the actual tank for living space, necessarily removing tank panels to fit windows.   That I think would be a shame.

Still, I wish them luck and would be happy to share experience.

Massive New Storage Space and SUPAlyx

Trouble with flat roofed houses like ours is you miss the storage space that most conventional houses have in their lofts.

We have coped with this to a limited extent by using the space in the coal truck and the void below the roof room floor.   Mainly though the spaces inside the three bays of the navvy hut have become cluttered (a serious understatement).

I do not know why I have not thought of it before but I am fitting a floor below the pitched roof of the navvy hut which is creating an enormous loft.   There is a good six feet of headroom under the apex.

Here is the hut before it was taken to pieces by Network Rail at Appleby.   If you draw an imaginary line between the gutters you get an idea of the size of the resulting loft.   Of course, not all of the space is usable because of the sloping roof but well over half of it is.

Not only that, I have dropped upon nearly 40 sturdy lidded rectangular buckets from a local farm.   Into these will go the odds and ends in their various categories for ease of retrieval when needed.   That at any rate is the theory.   I am mindful of a comment made by darling daughter Lorna last weekend.   "Don't put all your rubbish up there Dad, please.   When you kick the bucket it will be me who has to get rid of it all."

True, but it will at least all be in red buckets for ease of disposal.

A proper staircase will give access to the loft, which is already lit with LED lights.

Settle's Going Up in the World

click to enlarge

If you enlarge the picture and look carefully you will see a couple of chaps earning their money.

Here is the crane from Booths supermarket car  park:

Fear not, the resulting building is nowhere near the height of the crane.   Retirement homes are being built on the site and the long reach of the crane will enable fast construction.

And a dramatic one from former Dalesman editor Paul Jackson:

Oh yes, and it has three bright red lights on the top!

Settle Station Back in The Day

This 'atmospheric' picture of Settle station popped up on social media the other day:

click to enlarge

It rather captures the bleakness of many wayside stations at the time.   Just when the time is I do not know.   Anywhere from the 1950s onwards.   The station is neglected and its platforms are lit by gas lamps.   It is winter and the few people on the platforms are dressed for it.

Health and Safety has not yet kicked in judging by the state of the platform with trip and slip hazards aplenty.   The tracks though look ready for serious purpose.   The Thames-Clyde Express would have been a daily blur of steam and speed through Settle then.   Even so the track is of jointed rail - the things that gave trains that comforting di-der-di-der, di-der-di-der noise.   Today's continuous rail has got rid of that.   The ride is smoother but the experience has lost that accompaniment.

Recognising the depressing appearance, somebody is making the very best of it with flower beds.   This suggests the work of Stationmaster Taylor - perhaps that is him with raincoat aflap on the down platform at the far end of which is the down water crane.

And on the far right is the water tower of course.