More than seven years ago I wrote something maybe you didn’t read or have forgotten: Bungalow Bliss.
I was in Ireland last month for the Wexford Festival and can report the architectural genre has only slightly changed. I saw post-Noddy Toytown, Arctic Snow-Cem and Green Box (with windows). My opinion has not changed. There are so many motorways on the eastern seaboard now only local traffic goes past. The architecture might be despised by poncy metropolitans but if it pleases the eye of the beholder … . It’s a different matter in a city-scape.
R and I were given a huge take-away bowl of kedgeree last month by a friend because she is kind and knows we both love it. She added a pinch of curry powder to improve her recipe, although kedgeree doesn’t need a recipe and her’s didn’t need improvement. Almost always it is disappointing in a restaurant and always delicious cooked at home – preferably somebody else’s home.
The connection between the paragraphs above may elude you even if you are a Round Britain Quiz listener on BBC R4. When the weather is hot No 56 copes; the north facing kitchen is cool and the north facing back yard has an awning. In cooler weather the south facing parlour has a leather sofa in a bay window that Bertie and I find comfortable. Now the monsoon has come we are not doing so well. There are three leaks in the kitchen ceiling, two of which are through ceiling down-lighters. You may sneer at down-lighters but they do provide a duct for water to escape – better than a collapsed ceiling. The worst leak filled our friend’s kedgeree bowl to the brim.
I’m not complaining. I heard the former Prime Minister of the Maldives on the BBC World Service telling listeners trenchantly that his islands were going to be submerged. Be prepared! In this country we seldom are and deficiencies make the news. The Thames flood barrier and other interventions protect us and because they work and are paid for are ignored and the politicians who allocated that public money are forgotten. You’re only judged by your last mistake in politics.
Agree with you about this useful dual purpose of downlighters. Our leaks only occurred here when the weather was coming from the east & the culprit was the old lead flashing – our wonderful handyman Terry fixed it no problem – when professional roofers had failed to spot the fault!
I’m experimenting monsoon ingress, not through downlighting but electronics velux, hence the proportional quantities!!
My builders due today but now Thursday as am at a City funidad on wedding, hope they are as good as your man!
I always do kedge when w/e stayers as it’s a job done en avance.