INDEX	August 17, 2022
This is Millom		The front of the house. The ironwork looks like some kind of modern art installation but is actually a satellite dish that has seen better days. It will not be there long. The weird V shaped wooden contraption in the window is something estate agents do for no rational reason I can figure. I think it harks back to some prehistoric religion, or fertility rite. The windows look grotty but they are actually metal framed and my pride and joy. The pebble dashing I hate but local builders tell me I can't get rid of it. We shall see.
When I worked on local newspapers one of the features we did was the deplorable conditions story. The photographers used to say it is impossible to make these things look grotty. In photographs things always looked shiney new. Well I seem to have managed the impossible. My pictures of Millom make my house (for it is mine now, or will be in a few days time) look tatty.
Millom Station, platform 2. The above sculpture or artwork commemorates the mining history of the town. Millom used to be highly industrialised, a massive producer of iron. Little remains of this history except some rather fine buildings and strange slag heaps. Thanks to improved screening technology (and the Aberfan disaster) most coal slag heaps have been cleared. But you can't clear an iron slag heap, or at least they say you can't, because it solidifies into a giant metal heap.	It is true it does need some care and attention. My main worry is the front bedroom. The wall seems to be damp and since the house has the only original roof in the road (all the others have been replaced) there must be a chance that I will have to follow my neighbours and re-roof. Hopefully it's just the guttering that needs replacing. Certainly the roof at the back of the house seems to be in good condition and the back of the house is dry, internally. The paving stones are eccentric because the road is private, essentially a mews (if they have mews in Cumbria). The conveyancers (AKA my solicitors) told me I should get the vendor to provide an insurance policy guaranteeing access. I ignored them.The bin men use an access road to the rear of the premises and this is publicly maintained, making access to my back door guaranteed. The conveyancers were also most anxious that I should get a mining report but since the row of houses have been up for a century or so and there is no evidence of subsidence, I ducked that one too.
	Click for next section.
INDEX Jonathan Brind		August 17, 2022