Madelaine McMasters Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 8 minutes ago, Da5id Weatherwax said: I learned a great deal about home maintenance on an old building from assisting my dad, along with some REALLY interesting additions to my developing vocabulary. I love cooing those words to the wildlife in my yard. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolig Loon Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 (edited) Older homes like yours, @Da5id Weatherwax, come with a built-in honey-do list that is self-renewing. Until the late 1990s, I had never lived in a house built after WWI, so I thought that was just part of the package that comes with home ownership. Unless you are wealthy enough to keep an army of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and roofers on retainer, you learn most of the basics of their trades yourself. I'm still amused by the number of people who don't even know how to replace a faucet or don't have a Phillips screwdriver and a pipe wrench in the toolbox (or even a toolbox). Now that I live in a house with aluminum siding, sealed double-pane windows, composite flooring, and all manner of appliances that are designed to be replaced rather than repaired, I almost miss those long to-do lists. Almost. Edited July 14, 2022 by Rolig Loon typos. as always. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chic Aeon Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 Just a general warning from me. The biggest online retailer is no longer giving refunds on damaged foods -- they used to along with when the wrong item was sent as it has happened to me a few times. NOW you are just stuck. I ended up with three dozen protein bars that had melted (only in the low 80s where "I" am but could have melted along the way) with major texture change. No refund. They were not sent with cold packs like some membership online stores do :D. Company names have of course been excluded. Anyway beware. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madelaine McMasters Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 9 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said: I almost miss those long to-do lists. Almost. ...almost hands you hers. Almost. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahKB7 Koskinen Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 (edited) *lives in a house built in 1750 and laughs* 😜 Edited July 14, 2022 by SarahKB7 Koskinen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 5 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said: NOW you are just stuck. I ended up with three dozen protein bars that had melted (only in the low 80s where "I" am but could have melted along the way) with major texture change. No refund. They were not sent with cold packs like some membership online stores do :D. Reminds me of having bought a chocolate making kit from an online specialist, the cocoa butter arrived not just melted (which would have been fine), but leaking out of the package all over the place. They had not even bothered to double-bag it. (I shall not be buying from them again. Probably, most purchases shelled out for the special fast shipment.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 Y'all in your old houses. Harrumph. Our 50-year old homes in the US are way crappier!! And we have to get a new roof (at minimum) every 20-30 years, while everything else decays. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahKB7 Koskinen Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 (edited) Here's how some new houses are built in England.... Edited July 14, 2022 by SarahKB7 Koskinen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da5id Weatherwax Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 3 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said: Y'all in your old houses. Harrumph. Our 50-year old homes in the US are way crappier!! And we have to get a new roof (at minimum) every 20-30 years, while everything else decays. Admittedly here in Europe we are foolish enough to believe a hundred miles is a long way. In America you are daft enough to think a hundred years is a long time. It's not simply the old buildings, I've got family members that cordially hate each other because of a feud that's older than the republic... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 11 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said: ...almost hands you hers. Almost. I'm finding that I can live quite happily without closets or a proper kitchen! Closets are gone forever. The kitchen, meh - will probably put in some cabinets someday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katherine Heartsong Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 13 minutes ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said: *lives in a house built in 1750 and laughs* 😜 Lives in a mostly renovated house built in 1962 ... still has a list of things to do. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolig Loon Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 3 minutes ago, Da5id Weatherwax said: Admittedly here in Europe we are foolish enough to believe a hundred miles is a long way. In America you are daft enough to think a hundred years is a long time. It's not simply the old buildings, I've got family members that cordially hate each other because of a feud that's older than the republic... Yeah, it's all a matter of what you're used to, and what is the norm in your area. I watched the video that Sarah posted and can recognize the same construction methods and materials we use on this side of the Atlantic. They are rapidly replacing the buildings that had stone masonry and mortised post and beam framework a few generations ago. The newer homes are more energy efficient and rodent-proof, have better lighting and plumbing, and are often more stable against perils like earthquakes. The tradeoff, of course, is that they have a sameness that feels like sterility to me and, as Love notes, are sometimes built hastily by contractors who don't care whether they will still be here in 50 or 100 years. Having said that, I have to remember that the only truly OLD houses we see today are the few that were built well in the first place and haven't collapsed yet. I miss the old farmhouse I grew up in, with its 1780s foundation and its 19th century quirks. I join gleefully into the one-upmanship of "my old house was older than yours", but I have to admit that -- setting aside aesthetic considerations -- average building standards today are much better than they used to be. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katherine Heartsong Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 (edited) Pete peeve bringing in tourism to Europe and old structures ... Climbing up a narrow stone staircase in a wonderful old building (in this case, the Duomo in Firenze, Italy, largely a 14th Century construction effort) and seeing graffiti on the wall that read something like, "In America we'd have put in an elevator." And people wonder why I like cats. PS. Not a diss on my American friends, sorry, that's just what was spray painted up there. Edited July 14, 2022 by Katherine Heartsong 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahKB7 Koskinen Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 (edited) Peeve: American tourists who ask stupid questions like "why was Windsor Castle built near Heathrow Airport?" 😜 Edited July 14, 2022 by SarahKB7 Koskinen 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Rhiadra Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 1 minute ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said: Peeve: American tourists who ask stupid questions like "why was Windsor Castle built near Heathrow Airport?" 😜 Peeve: People who seem to believe that America invented "stupid." Pretty sure it's a European import, myself. 3 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 3 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said: Peeve: People who seem to believe that America invented "stupid." Pretty sure it's a European import, myself. Good plan, now they'll take credit for it. Brilliant! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolig Loon Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 1 minute ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said: Peeve: American tourists who ask stupid questions like "why was Windsor Castle built near Heathrow Airport?" You can safely remove the word "American" from that sentence and still hear groans of recognition from most of us. Tourists worldwide have a reputation for being naive/chauvinistic/ignorant/insensitive. I've rolled my eyes at plenty of Chinese, Italian, English, German, ... tourists. I have no doubt that some people have probably rolled their eyes at me too, despite my attempts to be a traveler rather than a tourist. None of us can claim that we've never said or done something really stupid. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowan Amore Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 People who somehow manage to throw shade in almost every post. Not cool. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 4 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said: People who somehow manage to throw shade in almost every post. Not cool. I've got a "positive spin" / "silver lining" for almost anything. In this case: "I thought you looked hot, so I brought you some shade"! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da5id Weatherwax Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 Peeve: People who are so much better than I am at taking the shade and throwing it back refined, distilled and sharpened. You gotta admire artistry, but damn, it stings if they can dodge better than you can 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rat Luv Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 19 minutes ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said: Peeve: American tourists who ask stupid questions like "why was Windsor Castle built near Heathrow Airport?" 😜 Why was it though? Seems silly to build it under a flight path, IMO. 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da5id Weatherwax Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 2 minutes ago, Rat Luv said: Why was it though? Seems silly to build it under a flight path, IMO. In fairness Windsor Castle may be intimately associated with the house of Windsor but it isn't, by any means, one of Her Majesty's favourite residences. The Sandringham and Balmoral estates are her refuges - and, incidentally, part of her private holdings, not the property of the Crown. Windsor and Buckingham are seats of the Crown and as such she's always "on duty" whenever at either. It still boggles the mind that a government could have got away with pointing a runway at the place without getting one HELL of a roasting from the palace! 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Persephone Emerald Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 1 minute ago, Da5id Weatherwax said: In fairness Windsor Castle may be intimately associated with the house of Windsor but it isn't, by any means, one of Her Majesty's favourite residences. The Sandringham and Balmoral estates are her refuges - and, incidentally, part of her private holdings, not the property of the Crown. Windsor and Buckingham are seats of the Crown and as such she's always "on duty" whenever at either. It still boggles the mind that a government could have got away with pointing a runway at the place without getting one HELL of a roasting from the palace! Some people probably did get roasted, but they ignored the ire and swept the incident under the rug. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da5id Weatherwax Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 Just now, Persephone Emerald said: Some people probably did get roasted, but they ignored the ire and swept the incident under the rug. British governments are good at that. At this point the rug is within 2 feet of the ceiling and folks are managing "not to notice" that they are crawling around on their hands and knees dodging the light fixtures. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 Airport near palace = shorter ride for the Queen. Just sayin'. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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