Earlier posts

Earlier posts
This blog is a continuation of an older one. To explore previous posts please click the photo above.

Monday 18 March 2024

Reorientating


I've only moved about half a mile from my old house to my new apartment yet it's odd how that has reshaped my local world. It's all familiar territory but setting off from a different place means subtle adjustments to my route, whether on foot or by car, with new views of familiar things to be enjoyed. I've always been able to look up to Baildon Moor and the wonderfully named Hope Hill in the distance. From this new place, higher up the other side of the valley, I look across to it - and indeed can see it from my flat's balcony, which I'm thrilled about as I love this view. 

I can also see the church tower from my windows and have to go around either the front or back of it to get to the main road, shops and down into Saltaire village. 

The house at the far side of the road junction (on the photo above) is now an estate agent's office. Built in 1866, it marks the southwest corner of Saltaire village. It is the only detached house in the entire village and was once the home of the chief cashier of Salts Mill. Its history is documented HERE. The road junction, incidentally, is universally known by locals as 'Saltaire roundabout', though the roundabout disappeared a few years ago and was replaced by traffic lights. 

So far I have not forgotten where I now live and arrived back at my old house... but I wouldn't put that past me! I often have to sit and think about exactly which way I have to go to get to where I'm heading from here. 

Saturday 16 March 2024

A brief escape


My days are spent, mostly happily, getting things organised in my new home. There have been many days when I’ve had to stay in all day for various engineers/repairmen/handymen. I’ve had several delightful visits from family and friends, keen to see where I am now and/or (often) to give me a hand with something. In the last few days, since I’ve had a wi-fi connection, I’ve been notifying all and sundry of my new address. Some organisations make that an easy process and some don’t! There's a lot still to do but I’m getting nearer to the fun end of things. I will have to have a new bathroom fitted and that involves a myriad decisions. It will be a long term investment so I don’t want to get it wrong. 

If I’ve been out it has generally been on necessary errands. You wouldn’t believe the number of small things that I thought I’d carefully packed and now can’t find! Today I had to go and buy a plug adaptor in order to charge my electric toothbrush. I expect I’ll find the original tomorrow! 

Really the only leisure outing I’ve had was a walk at Bolton Abbey, on a drizzly, misty day that made for pleasantly soft and muted photos. I’m gradually resuming a more normal rhythm so I’m hopeful of a return to more frequent blogging as my outings increase. 


 

Thursday 14 March 2024

Manna from heaven


This neat little box, my friends, is manna from heaven. It is a mini wi-fi hub that works off the 4G network. I’ve been sent it because, for reasons both complicated and ridiculous, BT have not yet managed to connect me to broadband at my new flat. That is despite 14 days of waiting, numerous ‘no shows’ of engineers and three young, handsome, very nice but ultimately hapless Openreach engineers who did show up at various times but were not briefed and did not have either the right information, skills, tools or authority to do what is needed for a proper connection. Thanks to two patient friends fielding phone calls for me (how many times in the last two weeks have I wished I could hear well enough to pick the phone up myself!) and then, blessedly, the granting of a direct email connection to a relatively helpful (though also somewhat short on knowledge and experience) chap on the BT Complaints Line, I’ve eventually been sent this as a stop gap. And it actually works! I’ve so far been making do with my phone to try and access my emails and so on (but too small to read and too weak a signal to be very effective, not to mention my fingers being too big to type on it reliably - and gobbling up data! 😱) 

I’ve now cranked my desktop Mac into life. I’ll swear I heard it mutter ‘Where have you been?’ My phone is a happy bunny with four bars of wi-fi instead of two bars of 4G signal and my iPad… well, that’s demanding that I re-sign into everything and is chiding me because it’s not been synced or backed up for two weeks. But they WORK! Hooray! 

Not only that but I’ve built myself a sit/stand desk today (from a kit) - so not a bad day for someone who is generally rather technically challenged. With my entire small village of friends helping in various ways with practical and moral support, life here is beginning at last to shape up into a more rhythmic and familiar pattern. Bedroom is tidy and restful, all boxes banished; kitchen is fully functional and even has a little space in some of the cupboards for the several boxes of glassware etc that I haven’t yet unpacked. One end of the sitting room looks like a sitting room. (The other looks like a depository, stacked with boxes, mainly books awaiting shelves). I’m in the process of getting quotes to fit a new bathroom. Currently that’s just a place to try and keep clean in, rather than the relaxing sanctuary I am seeking. My office is a work in progress and currently a shoe box holds all the most important notebooks, pens, scissors, sellotape and Letters/Bills That Must Soon Be Dealt With.

Slowly but surely, my new life as an apartment dweller is taking shape. ‘Phase One’ not yet fully completed but I’m much nearer now than I was to a basically organised and calm existence. I feel as though I’m at last getting on to the fun bit, thinking about decor and sussing out how things need to be organised to work well, everything in its place and a place for everything. My best buy so far? A little machine that prints labels. Boxes, jars, everything getting neatly labelled! 

Wednesday 6 March 2024

Unboxing


Well, I got here! I finally moved last Thursday and have started unpacking boxes. The kitchen and my bedroom are now functioning fairly well but there’s a lot I can’t unpack until I get more storage. Much at my previous house was built in (bookshelves and cupboards) so I haven’t been able to bring them with me. There is loads still to do: new bathroom, complete redecoration, curtains and carpets throughout, so I’m going to be busy. Although very unfinished yet, it already feels like home and I think I’ll be happy and contented here.

The biggest issue currently is that I have no broadband. It was installed last Friday but doesn’t work and I’m having a real job to get it progressed. Being deaf, I don’t use the phone so it’s hugely inconvenient to be offline. 

I’ve been humbled and grateful for all the support and love of family and friends, who are going above and beyond to help with various things, making phone calls for me, making sure I’m fed and so on. It clearly ‘takes a village’ to move house, and I’m very fortunate to have my little ‘village’ surrounding me.

Some bits are relatively tidy and I love my new sofa, though it will look 100% better paired with a new carpet.

It’s all a work in progress but I’m so glad to be here and to be starting the ‘fun end’ of the business of moving house. It’s been a long haul to get this far. 


 

Wednesday 28 February 2024

My life in boxes


Nearly all packed up. Too tired for words! About to dismantle my computer and broadband, and will hopefully be up and running at the new apartment before too long. 


 

Friday 23 February 2024

Swept along


A couple of photos from a recent walk by the Strid at Bolton Abbey. After heavy rain, the river was rushing with some violence through this narrow but very deep chasm. 

The photos, I feel, have some resonance with my current situation. This 'moving house' business has proved very rocky at times, and pretty stressful. I'm only glad I didn't leave it another ten years to make the move or I fear I'd not have had the stamina and resilience. It has taken a full six months, from making an offer on my new apartment and accepting an offer on my house, to being able to move. Ridiculous - and largely due to one incompetent and insouciant solicitor (not mine). However, all is finally in place and I expect to be moving next Thursday. 

I'm now getting swept along in the maelstrom of Things That Have To Be Done: last minute packing, notifying important people and authorities of change of address, getting things set up for my new abode (broadband! most important), arranging for the delivery of a new fridge-freezer (mine here is integrated so has to be left behind and there isn't one at the flat) plus looking ahead to a myriad of things that will need fixing and sorting once I get there. It feels a lot, considering I'm only moving half a mile up the road!  The most fun is trying to gauge my food stocks so that I use up most of it and don't either have to buy more or transport a lot of odds and ends. I suspect I'm going to be eating some weird combinations of things by about Tuesday, much as you do before going on holiday. Sardines and baked beans, anyone? 

So... wish me luck - and I'll see you on the other side!

And for those that prefer coloured photos, here's another one of the Strid:

Monday 19 February 2024

Friday 16 February 2024

Snowdrops


It's the season for snowdrops and there seem to be plenty in bloom in parks, gardens and by the wayside. They are always lovely to see, delicate harbingers of spring. 

Thursday 15 February 2024

Progress


They seem to be making good progress on the renovation of the canal towpath. The gravel underlayer has now been tarmacked and kerbs put in. It looks like they have relaid all the stone paving slabs by the bridge. A day-glo orange-suited man was sprinkling sand (or loose cement?) and brushing it into the gaps between the pavers. He saw me taking the photo and gave me a cheery wave. 

For some reason, it reminded me of a tale I was told by my mother. When I was about two, we lived in a house with a gravel path. She caught me putting handfuls of gravel through the letter box in the front door. When she asked me what I was doing, I said 'Sprinkling'. I'd heard her talk of 'spring-cleaning' and thought that's what she meant! Anyway, Mr Path-layer was doing a great job of spring-cleaning.

Tuesday 13 February 2024

Yellow cheeriness


A brief spell of sunshine tempted me out, though I'm busy at home. It was chilly but that encouraged me to walk faster and was no doubt a good thing. In Roberts Park, the yellow crocuses are in full bloom. For some reason the purple ones lag behind a little. 

Saturday 10 February 2024

Staying in


Well, we've had all the weather these past few days - wind, rain, then a brief flurry of snow (far worse in the hilly areas than here, where it hardly settled), then more torrential rain and now fog! I've hardly been out, though I have plenty to keep me busy. 

For my last birthday, my daughter gifted me a Storyworth subscription. They send questions each week for you to answer online, which gradually builds into a book of your memoirs. It's been fun to do. I've used the questions as a starting point but then written in my own style. Sometimes I think: 'I can't remember anything about that'... but then the recollections begin to reveal themselves and come creeping back. Anyway, I've been trying to get it finished before I move house, as I'll have different preoccupations once I'm in my new flat and wanting to get it redecorated and organised. The long wait for a removal date has, in that way, been useful as I've had time to finish, tweak and craft the book. It's almost done. 

As for the move, hopefully it is edging nearer! My solicitor tells me she is aiming for 29 February as the completion date, though she still has to get agreement to that from my buyer and some figures from the seller's solicitor (who is the one whose tardiness has been holding things up). So... fingers crossed! 

Sunday 4 February 2024

Wedding cars


As I walked past Saltaire's church the other day there was a fine selection of Bentleys outside. It looked like they were doing a photoshoot, perhaps for a wedding car hire company. There was a chap with a drone, no doubt intending to take some photos looking down from a height. 

The cars in the background are not related to the shoot. The church now seems to allow people to park in the grounds, presumably making a bit of money from the fees. Every little helps when you're responsible for the upkeep of a listed building. 

Saturday 3 February 2024

Rainbow glass


More colour from Salts Mill. You know how fond I am of stained glass windows. Well, coloured glassware comes a close second. I'm especially drawn to blue glass and, when I finally get into my hoped-for new apartment, I have several vases and bottles that I anticipate will sit happily on the kitchen windowsill. Given the number of pieces on display in the Antiques Centre, I could easily add to my collection. 

Some folk collect old bottles like those below. The vintage glass has a turquoise hue that is quite attractive. 



More vases, displayed so that the incoming window light makes the colours sing. 


Those who follow Alan Burnett's blog, News from Nowhere, may recognise a few of these vases. They are, it seems, still unsold and gathering dust after at least four years. Apologies to Alan for apparently 'stealing' his image. It so happens that sometimes great minds think alike! 



Friday 2 February 2024

Colour in t'Mill


It is all so colourless outside at this time of year, so I went into Salts Mill in search of some colour to lift my spirits. 

Sewing threads in the Antiques Centre made quite a rainbow. (Note to self, next time I need any thread this is the place to come!) 


The lid of an antique sewing box had a gorgeous, iridiscent inlay of abalone shell mother of pearl. 


It was too heavy to carry or I may have been tempted by this Burmantofts Pottery jardinière (for displaying a plant), in lovely colours with an art-nouveau pattern. My spider plant would be very happy atop that. 



In the 1853 Gallery they have some covetable notebooks, along with lots of artists' materials. The paint sample card made a bright rainbow too, as did the tubes of acrylic paint. 



 

Thursday 1 February 2024

Stirrings


We are still in the depths of winter. The trees are bare, the grasses and reeds collapsed, the air frigid even on a blue sky day and, if the temperature isn't actually freezing the ground hard, then everywhere is thick with mud. On the small nature reserve on the edge of Saltaire, the pond was - as far as I could see - devoid of life, though not frozen over. The duck houses, one of them floating, were bare. Perhaps in the spring they will provide a refuge for something, if not necessarily a duck. There's something about a blue sky reflected that lifts my spirits though. 

Look closely and there are other things to be cheered by too. There was a small shrub covered in pink blossoms. I think it's a winter flowering Viburnum x bodnantense. I suppose it is because I associate pink blossom with spring that this plant always seems such an encouragement in these dark, cold months. 


In the borders, and in my tubs in my back yard, bulbs are already sending up their green shoots.



This camellia in the nature reserve had large buds. (The colour at the back is an information board). 

On my way through the park I noticed yellow crocus starting to flower, though the ground there is completely waterlogged. I'm sure they don't usually appear until mid-February. I want to say to these plants to stay furled and not to bloom yet. We surely have some more cold weather and perhaps even snow still to come and they will get browned and crushed. It seems to me that nature has lost its rhythm just a bit.