Monday 27 January 2014

Stoke Bruerne in the 1970s

My friend Phil has kindly sent me a scanned image (from a 35mm slide) which he took in the early 1970s of the museum (now a listed building), the four cottages and Sister Mary Ward's house (now an Indian restaurant - the Spice of Bruerne).

The sign hanging outside the museum is now an artefact within the museum,  the four cottages now all have porches of the design of the one at No3 (3rd from the left) - No3 was Jack James' home - Jack started the canal museum.  Sister Mary Ward's house was probably still in her family's ownership as she died in 1972 and it still looks well cared for; sadly that cannot be said about it now.

One of the aspects of the cottages that interested me was the different windows - I have always noticed that the windows (especially the ones on the top floors) were different but made an assumption that this was a fairly recent change from the original but the image shows the different window design at the time of Phil's photo which are still apparent today - most interesting.  I hope Phil doesn't mind me posting his image on here - I do think it adds to the known history of the buildings.

Sunday 26 January 2014

'New' car

I have had Citroen 2CVs since about 1980 and have not only enjoyed them but made very good, life-long, friends through the Citroen 2CV Club - 2CVGB. I moved from 2CVs to the more modern Citroen equivalent which was the Berlingo in about 2003 - I have had two Berlingos and they have been very reliable and comfortable cars but I really don't need such a large vehicle any more or the £175 road tax each year so recently I sold the Berlingo I had (of course not worth very much these days) and have bought a Smart car (road tax £30 a year) - the same 2CV type ethos in my view.  It's like a rocket ship to Mars - goes very fast when you want it to, it has 'paddle shift' gear change, a glass 'panoramic' roof and to cap it all off heated leather seats - my friend Rodney will like last bit! It is a bit bumpy on some roads, as you would expect from the very short wheelbase, but is surprisingly good on the motorway.  It is an '08' (2008) model with just 18,000 recorded miles.  So far I think it is lovely.

Sunday 19 January 2014

A few final bits done

The new furniture in the
spare bedroom
I have been doing a little bit of work on the house - tidying up the last little bits and pieces.

Yesterday (Saturday) I replaced the small bookcase in my spare bedroom with Ikea furniture which matches that in the main bedroom.  I am trying to get the same look and feel to each room.

I think it looks so much better than the previous bookcase which is now by the front door and doing temporary service as a place for visitors to put their shoes/boots/hats when visiting.

The clothes rack in the kitchen
At the same time my friend Richard who owns the butty Moon, which is moored opposite my house kindly came for a cup of tea and to drill two holes in the roof my my kitchen ceiling to take a Victorian style clothes rack to dry my washing. It's better, I think than hanging my clothes from hangers (even if the hangers are colour coordinated).

There is just one more thing to do (apart from picking up the 'new to me' car on Wednesday) which is to lay the front garden with Northamptonshire stone to match the house.