Wednesday, April 28, 2021

The Kingdom of Boredom.

Spring certainly seems to be here at last. The past few days I've been able to go outside without a jacket. Yesterday was even in the 80s. Today it looks like rain, and that is welcome too. It has been awfully dry as far as spring goes. 

We were given some flagstone that someone ripped up, wanting a different look to the front of his house. He asked Tim if we wanted it. Some questions need not to be asked twice. It will be used for a walk way to the greenhouse and edging to the gardens on two sides of it, which will provide a safety zone around the building. 

I treated myself to two geraniums for the porch of this house. I've never been successful saving them over the winter, despite many attempts to do just that. This year, I'll try again. 

Cara and Colin are house hunting for their first house and it is quite an interesting thing, the difference between the houses here and the houses in UK. 

Ours seem to pride themselves on being big and sprawling with open concept. I am not a fan of this. Our house is old and would be the absolute opposite of open concept, with each room having doors to shut it off from the adjacent rooms, french doors galore. It is practical for cold weather to be able to shut the door to the rooms you are not using, directing the heat to the areas that you are using. It is also a good time for baking. The heat gets used twice...once to cook and the second to warm the kitchen. Another thing is bathrooms. We have two here, but it is not uncommon to see new builds with double that. I've always wondered why one needs so many bathrooms, but it is the thing here. If you want to add value to a home quickly, add a bathroom. Laundry rooms are also not a 'thing' over there, not that I've noticed anyway. 

The houses that Cara and Colin are looking at are very practical 4 bedrooms. You all muddle along with one bathroom. Your kitchens are smaller yet nothing is missing. The laundry facilities seem to be in the kitchen. Very practical as far as plumbing goes. 

Just interesting to look at the difference between real estate here and real estate there. I am excited to see what they end up with. 

So that is about it, really. It has been quiet. The only excitement really is that Tim's gotten quite embroiled in "Breaking Bad", on the suggestion of my son. We're on episode 16. Only 42 more to go. 

Off to clean the bathroom, but I'm fairly certain that's not of interest to any of you. 

10 comments:

  1. Well, I've just cleaned my bathroom too! Getting ready to seal the slates... It is peculiar how we find our comfort in houses - I like very old and very new; not much in between. Most of all I like cottages; even my 'main' home (soon to be sold) feels much like one as it was since pub and has no corridors downstairs - one room runs into the other. In the UK property is so tied up with investing and personal status that we seem to forget that houses are for living in! A good friend has just retired and used his savings to buy a huge country pile - what on earth for? There is only two of them? But each to their own... I, on the other hand, am doing almost the opposite - moving to a tiny cottage that has no 'status factor' and will never be sold so has an investment potential of zero! However... I love it more than anywhere else - and that's surely more precious

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  2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006vb2f
    see if you can find this bbc show
    Escape to the Country
    it’s fun house hunting in UK

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  3. We get to watch Escape to the Country over here too (Australia) and it is a very interesting look at so many aspects of UK life that you don't contemplate.

    Where I live, keeping rooms cool is the aim. All too many modern builds rely on air conditioning to be the answer - I am not a fan (boom boom unintentional pun there)

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  4. The writing on Breaking Bad is spectacular. One of my all time favorite shows!

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  5. Breaking Bad is one of my favourites - they did a great insider podcast to go with it as well and the showrunner is on almost every single one of them which is a massive deal.

    16 episodes in I think you'll be about to meet one of my favourite characters on the show - Saul Goodman, followed in the season two finale by Mike Ehrmantraut, who is for me by far the all time best character ever on any show.

    I loved the show so much I wrote an entire blog about it. A post for every episode. :)

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  6. Yes. We have 'met' Saul, Snoskred. It is amazing to me how a show about making meth can be so darn funny, Jennifer - The writing good. Right now, he's just received a text that the baby is coming, and he has (evidently) made the decision to deliver the goods.

    You must send me the blog link. I do solemnly swear not to read ahead.

    We have had the time to really look at the world around us. One of our tenants upriver watches that same eagle. We pointed him out to her and she's been avidly watching him daily ever since. He fishes behind her house. A couple of days ago, he managed to set off a murder of crows. He had a half dozen crows chasing him when flew downstream and landed in 'his tree' by his fishing hole. The crows landed in the same tree and were joined by even more angry crows who flew at him in a rage until he once again took off down river, the crows in hot pursuit. Reading proved that this might have been a territorial dispute. While the eagle is free to claim the river, it looks like the crows have a claim of their own.

    I looked up the Escape to the Country series, and it looks like something I'd like to watch. We enjoy Escape to the Chateau on Saturday nights.

    Thanks for the comments.

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  7. Somehow, we managed with two girls and one bathroom. Not we have two for two.

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  8. For 10 years there were 4 of us with 2 bedrooms and one bathroom. Now I have 3 and don't need them unless family is visiting. Then all of them get heavy usage.

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  9. “Open concept” is the latest and greatest. The next generation of homeowners will put up walls in them.

    Is Breaking Bad on Netflix?

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  10. Yes it is, Bob. We've just begun the third season.

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