Friday August 30th 2013
We have FOUND the stairs
Today I met my cousin Jane at the mountain at 9am. She had rallied the troops and bought extra help in the shape of her two boys. We decided that starting on the stairs would be the best plan because once this was done we could then tackle a whole room and be able to clear it and be able to remove any boxes or bulky items down the stairs and OUT.
and the stairs were virtually clear. Most things had gone apart from the rolled up 'new' carpet which has been there since the early 1980's There is nowhere else for it to go.
From the bottom looking up.
From the top looking down.
I started sorting in the garden and Jane and the boys brought the stuff out to me to be sorted. One of the boys appeared with one of many boxes filled with a whole heap of stuff (tissues, bits of wood, corks, bottle tops, lids, bits of wood, screws, receipts, coins, bits of wood, old papers, junk mail, bits of wood - and in one box he had found a twenty pound note which he handed to me - and then another one, and then a ten pound note, two more twenties and two fives. Oh - and did I mention the bits of wood? I put all the notes (not the bits of wood) all safe in my bag. My intention being to add them all up and give them to him at the end with the intention of making him more careful (and a wild and vague notion of making him tidier in future)..
So after two solid hours shifting and a trip to the skip the garden was full and the stairs were empty. We had also moved a bookcase from the top of the stairs and all the books in it. The bookcase went to a 'friend of mine who desperately needed a bookcase' (named 'skip'). I brought the books home to be sorted. I came across an old book by the Ballroom dancer Victor Silvester. It was headed for the charity shop, however when I flicked through it I noticed it was signed by the man himself and all his band. It will be e-bay for that one then.
Also there was a pile of newspapers titled 'Carpenter and Builders weekly'. These were all showing how to plan and build the Georgian/Victorian houses (History was never my strongest subject) dated 1891. These papers are over 120 years old. Wow! Interesting as well in that I am in college currently on a carpentry course so one of my ancestores somewhere was in to carpentry. Also I found 12 share certificates and a large number of stamps still in sheets, mint showing 1d and 2d and upwards I have no idea of the value. I don't think I will be able to retire on it but you never know.
So to anyone who is trying to get me to get a clearance company or those of the 'just skip the lot' mentality the above is precisely the reason this will not work.
We also found 7 shoes (2 of which were even a pair), bits of wood, bottles of wine, plastic bags, paper clips, television valves, florescent bulbs x 5, some silver (now black) spoons, a lighthouse lamp, some tea towels, bits of wood, string, 3 dusty and solidified hand cream jars, 17 bars of soap, a few dusters, some bits of wood, plastic jugs, a ceramic tortoise, 1 plastic goat, a book (unopened), pegs, a playing card, a wooly hat, 3 deceased spiders, 3 margarine tubs, 8 cotton reels, 3 sets of Christmas lights some bits of wood, a colony of silverfish and some old pyjama bottoms. Did I mention more bits of wood?
Jane has a big car and offered to take lots of stuff to my mate skip and the remainder of the prehistoric food tins and jars went to their final destination (Skip was very hungry thankfully). After they went home I checked through the boxes of stuff. We had got rid of about 12 bags of rubbish/recycling - this is from the stairs and landing.
It is now possible to walk up the stairs to the top AND turn around at the top.
THANK YOU JANE, ADAM AND MATTHEW. Your help was very much appreciated.
I went to visit the old stick in hospital. I think he is under the impression we are 'tidying' the house. How he thinks we are tidying I don't know. I am of no doubt that him being 'inside' is the reason progress is so good. I imagine him being home while I am throwing stuff out and taking everything out of the bin 'to deal with later'. I am fairly confident he will not be home before the end of the weekend but even so all the recycling bags and anything have already gone to the skip so he won't come home and have a paddy.
He proudly handed me three metro papers dated March 2013 which he announced 'you can recylec these, I have finished with them'. So a whole day of sorting and he has finished three, five month old free newspapers. So calculating three a day times 876,264 papers makes him - er - about 1084 years old by the time he has read them all - and that is providing he gets no more in the meantime.
I took another heap of stuff to the skip on my way home. The little chappie there winked at me. I think he winked at me - he has a squint so he could have just had something in his eye.
I left my brother with a BIG mess on the back garden lawn. Lots of bits of stuff and a whole pile of bits of wood.
In the evening I went out to a 40th Birthday Bash. Dad's money safely tucked away I had two of the five pound notes I had found in the house which I had swapped for a ten for change purposes. I handed one over to pay for my pint. in front of everyone in the bar the barmaid shouted 'We can't take this it's too colourful'. Eeek! I said 'I have another one here'. She checked it in their ultra violet machine and refused that also. They both have a silver line and a watermark but probably have been there so long that they are no longer in circulation. (either that or they have been palmed off on an old man and are forgeries). It was suggested I take them to the bank - however if I do this and they are dodgy then the bank will keep them and I will be £10 down.
Tomorrow we tackle the Matterhorn. I have a mate from Swindon coming down for the weekend. The first room to tackle is the bedroom....
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