Monday 16 September 2013

Oh, the heartache!

We are moving, finally, into our new cottage!  This should be a time of deep joy and happiness, yes?

Well, it was.  Right up until our kit came out of storage.

This was once a Victorian french polished mahogony extending dining table.  There are four extra leaves to go with it.  At full stretch it accommodated twelve diners in comfort with enough elbow room each to allow the use of semaphore to indicate a desire for condiments.  Behind it you will notice a listing hall cupboard, missing its rear undercarriage.


Here is a close up of a surface in which one could once see the reflection of one's face suffused by the warm glow only highly polished wood can endow.


Not wishing to bore you all with photos of an extensive inventory completely destroyed by the tropical climate and the beasties that thrive therein (all my bone china is smashed, my silver cutlery severely denuded, paintings destroyed, photo albums glued together, book cases eaten apart and anything perceived valuable here missing etc.), I give you one last photo of the books I have no choice but to throw away.


Marcia, clearly distraught at my all to evident grief, attempted to console me by pointing out it was all old stuff anyway and then, with a cheery smile, pointing out that now she could by all new stuff from China.

And they say 'Real' men don't cry.

38 comments:

  1. Oh I feel your pain
    Antiques you don't own..you just keep fthem for a while...
    But the pain is still the same when damage occurs
    Ouch

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    1. Sadly, with all the moving and divorcing I have done in my life, I am used to it.

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  2. Oh no :( storage ~ beasties ~ I thought you were going to tell another tale of someone raiding your storage. Maybe you can convince Marcia to buy some "new" antiques. The things we collect on our journey tell a story ~ I have my own collection. I love the idea of people who can travel light.

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    1. I have yet to umpack my suits etc. Maybe I will be travelling even lighter!

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  3. I think our wives went to the same consolation classes. A lot of my stuff from pre marriage times is now history. At least you got a cheery smile.

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    1. One that even in the tropics could freeze the Atlantic! I think Mrcia is glad to be shot of a lot of the old stuff!

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  4. So so sorry. It's like a bit of your past has died. In such circumstances I try to console myself that people matter more than things....... but it doesn't always work!

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  5. Well, Tom, real men now eat Quiche. You may cry. In fact, the only men I have ever seen cry are the real thing. Not least, since women are slightly more on tap, the sight of a man welling up having somewhat more impact.

    There are no words of comfort for photos lost. That's my nightmare scenario. Books can be replaced - she says lamely. And tables don't matter. Other than in monetary terms.

    Look at it this way, and you may clip me round the ears for it: What happened is decluttering by another name. Commiserations nevertheless. It's shite. I know.

    U

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    1. As you say, most everything can be replaced but it is the photos that really piss me off.

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  6. Oh dear, I'm guessing they don't have "Big Yellow Storage" in Angola then? What should have been a happy re-connection with your belongings has turned into a slightly hellish reunion. Sorry to hear that mate.

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    1. No big yellow storage but they evidently do have rusty wriggly tin shacks in the middle of swamps...

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  8. Storage units in the USA must be climate controlled to assure the contents don't thaw, freeze, mold, etcetcetc. Pricey. You hoped for the best,and lost the bet. No less painful, however, and I am truly soffry.

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  9. This is one of the eight million and twenty-three occasions when it is perfectly acceptable for a grown man to blub.

    Blub away sir, blub away.

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    1. Can you enlighten me as to the other eight million and twenty two?

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  10. These were things of beauty one way or the other, not just trophies of consumerism. Your anguish is completely justified.

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  11. Personally I'd be rather unhappy with a diningtable that mirrored my face whilst I was stuffing it...
    Els

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    1. On second thought... I sounded a little harsh there. Sorry 'bout your stuff, but your life has evolved so much further since collecting them. Are you really that sorry?
      Tip: maybe next time you want to store books, you can zinplock them with your new vaccuum machine?
      x
      Els

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    2. I don't think you were being harsh at all. Now that I have put on so much weight, I am inclined to agree with you!

      Vacuum packing books for storage, now why didn't I think of that!

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    3. I like the vacuum idea too.For the bigger items - you could raid the airport (as easy to do as raiding a naval yard in the capital of USA) and get one of those machines they use to plastic wrap suitcases. I wonder if you can vacuum with bubble wrap. that will add some physical protection too. It makes one think .. for example - if you bubble wrap vacuum packed a thermos flask of hot coffee - would it stay hot forever or would or whiskey on the rocks stay cold forever? - yeah I know - you would have drunk it before getting the vacuum wrap machine going.

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    4. You are barking mad, aren't you Nige! But then, everyone said the same about Bill Gates so I still want to be your friend. Must be bloody early in the morning for you. It is half past midnight here.

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  12. I know the feeling.
    I had two nice Gibson guitars and just about all my books destroyed by the heat and humidity when I lived in Florida, before I could afford air conditioning. Also the nice antique furniture I inherited from my grandmother.

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    1. Apparently there is a new modernista building in Londo that is so refelctive it can, under cdertain conditions, generate a localised temperature of 70C and has melted the plastics in cars. My brother had an LP collection numbering over a thousand, all classic originals (Hendrix, Procul Harem etc,) and had them stored in his attic room. One hot summer the lot warped with the heat.

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  13. The climate is not kind to these things. Before we bought and renovated our flat here, our chattels were stored in Scotland, (from whence they were coming). We had paid a lot for proper packing and storage, but nonetheless the company were a bunch of charlatans, and there was plenty of damage, but all of it has either been fixed or replaced, and covered by insurance. All the books however were incorrectly packed, and so some are "out of shape". I'm sorry for you, especially about the photos.

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    1. Restoration work nearly complete! Sadly, I have had plenty of practice and 'old soldiers' respect a few war wounds. I have never really been that fussy. If I give you a drink dripping with condensation, of course you can place it on any available flat surfasse even if it is polished. Adds character!

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  14. Shit; was this an 'outdoor' storage facility? It looks like everything's been stored on a tip.

    I'm sure you can bring back the table, even if the top ends up looking new. Do you still have the leaves?

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    1. I have the leaves (took me a while to find them).

      I have given the table a good buffing with Kiwi Parade Gloss (sort of halfway between Dark Tan and Cherry Blossom) using a badger hair brush and a Sylvete cloth followed by another buffing with beeswax.

      Angola is a tip, where do you expect me to find decente storage?

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  15. You ought to save a few books - maybe the out-of-print ones that can't be obtained on Kindle. Which beasties smashed your bone china?

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    1. I saved as many as I could. Basically, if I could still seperate the pages, I kept them. Sadly, in amongst the ones beyond salvage were many first editions (the Hemingway's broke my heart).

      The beasties who destroyed my china were the two legged clumsy kind. God only knows where my silver cutlery, tureens and other stuff is.

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  16. Replies
    1. Sarah, language! Don't Forget that in my imagination you are a sweet and innocent young lady.

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  17. Oh dear...a real shame...such high hopes dashed...and smashed.

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    1. A pithy comment!

      I can't do anything about the losses but I am well on the way with the repairs and resotration.

      No use crying over spilt milk but, now that I think about it, with wood floors I'll be really annoyed if Alex spills his milk. It's a bugger to clean up and you can never get rid of the smell!

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    2. a woman's job is never done...
      Els

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  18. Late in the comment game, here, but i'm wondering with some of the books, like the Hemingways, if you could put some silica gel in a zippy bag with the book, or use the vacuum seal and let it sit drying out for several days. Another dessicant that might be easier for you to get is diatamaceous earth. You can also use crumpled newspapers.

    Sorry to hear things didn't store well and no one respected the fragile things :0(

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