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Last Tuesday, southern England suffered the heaviest rainfull it had experienced for some time. It started raining mid-morning and absolutely tipped it down until after dark. I was absolutely soaked by the time I got home from work, even though I only have a 10 minute walk from work to the station and then a 2 minute walk from the station to Asda. The multistorey car park which I cut through to get to Asda had flooded so I had to paddle my way through to get my dinner. It's a good job my shoes were only £3.91 from Primark 100% plastic jobs or I might have been a bit upset. They were still soaking wet on Wednesday evening! My trousers and the linen, summer jacket I was wearing were also soaked through. Yuck!
On Wednesday morning I got up and had a shower as normal. When I got out of the shower noticed a pool of water had gathered in the corner beside the bath which doesn't normally happen. I assumed it was because the showerhead had been knocked into an unusual position. Later, as I got ready to leave the flat I noticed that the carpet in the hall was soaking wet along the wall next to the bathroom. At that point I panicked. I couldn't see that water had got in through the front door (it wasn't wet right next to the door) so I guessed that my DIY had been unsuccessful, the bath seal hadn't worked and water had leaked skirting board into the hall. There wasn't much I could do about it at that stage as I was getting a bit late for work so I left it. I phoned mum and she got dad to come round and take a look that evening. He sawed part of the bath panel off (due to rubbish design the bath panel is sealed in and won't come off without destroying half the bathroom fittings) and found that the area under the bath was completely dry and very dusty. The only conclusion he could reach was that the water had leaked in under the doorframe and the carpet had soaked it up. The bit of carpet nearest the door is raised slightly which explains why it wasn't wet. This was a great relief to me as it meant I definitely wasn't leaking water into the flat below. I wouldn't have wanted to meet my neighbours in those circumstances. Can you imagine it - "Hi, I'm the person who lives upstairs, sorry it's my fault your bathroom ceiling is dripping". Not good. Anyway, taking part of the bath panel off has solved the mystery of the slow draining bath. The waste pipe through which my bath water drains is directed upwards and then around a corner before it meets the toilet and sink waste pipes and leaves the flat. No wonder it doesn't work very well! At least I can now get to 'the trap' and clean it out to see whether that helps a bit. I predict that it is full of bits of long, blonde hair. The longer my hair becomes, the more I seem to moult.
Whilst my dad was sorting out my bathroom, I was at The Botanist in Kew doing the pub quiz with my work colleagues. I know this sounds really selfish, but believe me I'm much better off out of the way when my dad is doing DIY. We just argue otherwise. Anyway, I had a lovely warm ham salad which was actually bits of shredded pork rather than ham and then we won the quiz, or so I thought... I left at 10.30pm thinking that we'd won, then the following morning I discovered that our main opponents had checked their paper and found that it had been counted up incorrectly. To be honest I was happy with second place, although I'm glad my team mates didn't believe me I said Prince Charles was best man to Prince Andrew as it was actually Prince Edward and we would have lost 5 points if they'd put down my answer. I definitely think we should quiz again some time, although maybe somewhere with more than one veggie option on the menu.
Today, I went out to Twickenham with my parents. We were planning on visiting some of the Open House weekend locations but it didn't work out like that. We were on our way to Twickenham Museum when we noticed that St Mary's Church was open. St Mary's was my maternal grandad's parish church when he was growing up. He went to the church school and sang in the choir, his mum was a regular worshipper and his dad's name is on the war memorial in the churchyard. It's normally shut so it was nice to be able to pop in and have a look around whilst some of the church ladies did the flowers ready for harvest festival. St Mary's is quite an odd church. It's been altered lots since it was originally built, not least because the nave fell down in 1719 as vaults were being dug underneath with little attention being paid to the effect on the church above. It's mostly Georgian now with a lovely decorated plaster ceiling. The wall freize behind the alter is covered in gold and way OTT for a CofE church but it was quite impressive all the same. Unusually there is a gallary on both sides of the church and the organ is up the top. It's a really lovely church. The writer Alexander Pope is buried there. He is probably the most famous resident of Twickenham ever and his contemporaries didn't want people to forget it. There are no fewer than three memorials to him in the church.
After the church we went to Twickenham Museum which is the smallest museum I have ever visited. It is located in a tiny watermans cottage which was left to the Twickenham Society by one of it's members. The museum was quite interesting but probably only if you know a bit about Twickenham and surrounding area. We finished our trip by going for a walk down the river. A plaque has recently been errected explaining the history of the Eel Pie Hotel which was an important music venue in the 1960s and 1970s. It was located on Eel Pie Island which is a big island in the middle of the Thames opposite Twickenham. Eel Pie Island is now connected to the mainland by a bridge. Trevor Bayliss lives over there. Anyway, lots of famous bands and jazz musicians played at the Eel Pie years ago including the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, The Yardbirds and Pink Floyd. My mum was always too frightened to go there because it had a reputation for being a bit rough. Shame. We also went for a walk around the newly restored and re-opened gardens of York House. York House is the HQ of Richmond upon Thames Borough Council but it was originally built for a courtier of King Charles I. The garden was closed to the public for years so I'd never been there before, however it is now really lovely. It contains a massive fountain/water feature which incorporates a collection of marble statues of water nymphs which were commissioned from Italy by a financier in the early 20th Century but he was charged with fraud and died before they could be delivered. They then ended up in Twickenham. I wasn't really sure they fitted in with the surroundings but at least it looked different.
On the face of it Twickenham appears to be a really boring place. The main road through is very wide and has dull shops either side. It's normally a huge traffic jam leading into Richmond and on to the A316. However, if you go down to the river there are lots of interesting historical things to see. And a whole series of Press Gang was filmed there - what more could you want in a place!
On Wednesday morning I got up and had a shower as normal. When I got out of the shower noticed a pool of water had gathered in the corner beside the bath which doesn't normally happen. I assumed it was because the showerhead had been knocked into an unusual position. Later, as I got ready to leave the flat I noticed that the carpet in the hall was soaking wet along the wall next to the bathroom. At that point I panicked. I couldn't see that water had got in through the front door (it wasn't wet right next to the door) so I guessed that my DIY had been unsuccessful, the bath seal hadn't worked and water had leaked skirting board into the hall. There wasn't much I could do about it at that stage as I was getting a bit late for work so I left it. I phoned mum and she got dad to come round and take a look that evening. He sawed part of the bath panel off (due to rubbish design the bath panel is sealed in and won't come off without destroying half the bathroom fittings) and found that the area under the bath was completely dry and very dusty. The only conclusion he could reach was that the water had leaked in under the doorframe and the carpet had soaked it up. The bit of carpet nearest the door is raised slightly which explains why it wasn't wet. This was a great relief to me as it meant I definitely wasn't leaking water into the flat below. I wouldn't have wanted to meet my neighbours in those circumstances. Can you imagine it - "Hi, I'm the person who lives upstairs, sorry it's my fault your bathroom ceiling is dripping". Not good. Anyway, taking part of the bath panel off has solved the mystery of the slow draining bath. The waste pipe through which my bath water drains is directed upwards and then around a corner before it meets the toilet and sink waste pipes and leaves the flat. No wonder it doesn't work very well! At least I can now get to 'the trap' and clean it out to see whether that helps a bit. I predict that it is full of bits of long, blonde hair. The longer my hair becomes, the more I seem to moult.
Whilst my dad was sorting out my bathroom, I was at The Botanist in Kew doing the pub quiz with my work colleagues. I know this sounds really selfish, but believe me I'm much better off out of the way when my dad is doing DIY. We just argue otherwise. Anyway, I had a lovely warm ham salad which was actually bits of shredded pork rather than ham and then we won the quiz, or so I thought... I left at 10.30pm thinking that we'd won, then the following morning I discovered that our main opponents had checked their paper and found that it had been counted up incorrectly. To be honest I was happy with second place, although I'm glad my team mates didn't believe me I said Prince Charles was best man to Prince Andrew as it was actually Prince Edward and we would have lost 5 points if they'd put down my answer. I definitely think we should quiz again some time, although maybe somewhere with more than one veggie option on the menu.
Today, I went out to Twickenham with my parents. We were planning on visiting some of the Open House weekend locations but it didn't work out like that. We were on our way to Twickenham Museum when we noticed that St Mary's Church was open. St Mary's was my maternal grandad's parish church when he was growing up. He went to the church school and sang in the choir, his mum was a regular worshipper and his dad's name is on the war memorial in the churchyard. It's normally shut so it was nice to be able to pop in and have a look around whilst some of the church ladies did the flowers ready for harvest festival. St Mary's is quite an odd church. It's been altered lots since it was originally built, not least because the nave fell down in 1719 as vaults were being dug underneath with little attention being paid to the effect on the church above. It's mostly Georgian now with a lovely decorated plaster ceiling. The wall freize behind the alter is covered in gold and way OTT for a CofE church but it was quite impressive all the same. Unusually there is a gallary on both sides of the church and the organ is up the top. It's a really lovely church. The writer Alexander Pope is buried there. He is probably the most famous resident of Twickenham ever and his contemporaries didn't want people to forget it. There are no fewer than three memorials to him in the church.
After the church we went to Twickenham Museum which is the smallest museum I have ever visited. It is located in a tiny watermans cottage which was left to the Twickenham Society by one of it's members. The museum was quite interesting but probably only if you know a bit about Twickenham and surrounding area. We finished our trip by going for a walk down the river. A plaque has recently been errected explaining the history of the Eel Pie Hotel which was an important music venue in the 1960s and 1970s. It was located on Eel Pie Island which is a big island in the middle of the Thames opposite Twickenham. Eel Pie Island is now connected to the mainland by a bridge. Trevor Bayliss lives over there. Anyway, lots of famous bands and jazz musicians played at the Eel Pie years ago including the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, The Yardbirds and Pink Floyd. My mum was always too frightened to go there because it had a reputation for being a bit rough. Shame. We also went for a walk around the newly restored and re-opened gardens of York House. York House is the HQ of Richmond upon Thames Borough Council but it was originally built for a courtier of King Charles I. The garden was closed to the public for years so I'd never been there before, however it is now really lovely. It contains a massive fountain/water feature which incorporates a collection of marble statues of water nymphs which were commissioned from Italy by a financier in the early 20th Century but he was charged with fraud and died before they could be delivered. They then ended up in Twickenham. I wasn't really sure they fitted in with the surroundings but at least it looked different.
On the face of it Twickenham appears to be a really boring place. The main road through is very wide and has dull shops either side. It's normally a huge traffic jam leading into Richmond and on to the A316. However, if you go down to the river there are lots of interesting historical things to see. And a whole series of Press Gang was filmed there - what more could you want in a place!
