It's about time I introduced you to The Building Next Door (TBND) - and in the process, have a good moan about it. Today is the perfect moment to do it, since - it having been a bit of an uneventful week - I have very little to write about, and also because at precisely 7.30 a.m. today, I was woken by the sound of a chainsaw or some other Godforsaken type of power tool - which, is never a good thing at the best of times. When it comes barely hours after watching Scarface on telly, (remember the scene in the bathroom?), the effects of such a noise abruptly bringing our slumber to an end do not the beginnings of a good day make, even though I'm not working tomorrow, something which usually guarantees a spring in my step. I guess you're beginning to grasp which direction I'm heading towards with my contribution this week.
When Flat Mate (well, ex-Flat Mate now) first moved into this flat almost two years ago, we looked over onto the back of what was then a weighing scales factory whose claim to fame was supplying Delia Smith (I'm sure they did more than that, but I always found the fact that they advertised that quite endearing). It was a grotty old building (and I mean that in the best possible way), which ex-FM and I used to fantasise about, thinking of converting the top into a fabulous open plan space and just leaving the rest of the space as a studio cum gallery cum workspace... you know, the usual things you dream about (or at least I do) whenever you see a building that's a bit downtrodden.
And then the TBND was sold, and within days the bulldozers moved in. That part of it was actually a lot better than it sounds, because rather than simply being razed down to the ground, TBND was dismantled brick by brick, hopefully - or at least in my head - to be reassembled somewhere else - or maybe to be recycled. We were actually quite pleased when it happened because it let a lot more light into our flat.
By late spring, the builders moved in and it looked like it was going to become The Flash Building Next Door, since all the boarding outside was suddenly covered with the word "lifestyle" in pseudo-trendy fonts, combined with pictures that try to show the neighbourhood in a better light than it actually has. When we asked our landlord what was happening, he replied: "It's going to be a new development, and there'll be a Tesco opening" (this latter was supposedly good news). "You'll be overlooking a water feature in the main courtyard". At least ,we rather naively thought.
Now that the structural work is all done it is clear that all we'll get to see of the water feature is going to be a few drops - if we're lucky. That's because there are balconies that will come straight up to the bedroom window that will block the view out of the window and deprive us of every single inch of privacy. I've already had to put up curtains in the bedroom. Whether to do the same in the living room is currently the big debate, but I'm sure that once people actually start to move in, we'll have to. And we're lucky to be on the third floor. Those on the ground have suddenly been faced with concrete walls a mere foot away from their windows.
There is one good thing to be said about TBND - albeit a pretty much useless one. During the early days of its construction I thought it would be interesting to document its development and have been taking three photographs of it daily (with a few gaps in between) ever since. I now have over a thousand digital photographs of this project going from ground to fifth floor in all its glory taking up storage space on my computer. Maybe one day, when I'm living somewhere else, I can relive the experience in a matter of minutes, and without the audio. Which sounds oh so much better than the reality!
When Flat Mate (well, ex-Flat Mate now) first moved into this flat almost two years ago, we looked over onto the back of what was then a weighing scales factory whose claim to fame was supplying Delia Smith (I'm sure they did more than that, but I always found the fact that they advertised that quite endearing). It was a grotty old building (and I mean that in the best possible way), which ex-FM and I used to fantasise about, thinking of converting the top into a fabulous open plan space and just leaving the rest of the space as a studio cum gallery cum workspace... you know, the usual things you dream about (or at least I do) whenever you see a building that's a bit downtrodden.
And then the TBND was sold, and within days the bulldozers moved in. That part of it was actually a lot better than it sounds, because rather than simply being razed down to the ground, TBND was dismantled brick by brick, hopefully - or at least in my head - to be reassembled somewhere else - or maybe to be recycled. We were actually quite pleased when it happened because it let a lot more light into our flat.
By late spring, the builders moved in and it looked like it was going to become The Flash Building Next Door, since all the boarding outside was suddenly covered with the word "lifestyle" in pseudo-trendy fonts, combined with pictures that try to show the neighbourhood in a better light than it actually has. When we asked our landlord what was happening, he replied: "It's going to be a new development, and there'll be a Tesco opening" (this latter was supposedly good news). "You'll be overlooking a water feature in the main courtyard". At least ,we rather naively thought.
Now that the structural work is all done it is clear that all we'll get to see of the water feature is going to be a few drops - if we're lucky. That's because there are balconies that will come straight up to the bedroom window that will block the view out of the window and deprive us of every single inch of privacy. I've already had to put up curtains in the bedroom. Whether to do the same in the living room is currently the big debate, but I'm sure that once people actually start to move in, we'll have to. And we're lucky to be on the third floor. Those on the ground have suddenly been faced with concrete walls a mere foot away from their windows.
There is one good thing to be said about TBND - albeit a pretty much useless one. During the early days of its construction I thought it would be interesting to document its development and have been taking three photographs of it daily (with a few gaps in between) ever since. I now have over a thousand digital photographs of this project going from ground to fifth floor in all its glory taking up storage space on my computer. Maybe one day, when I'm living somewhere else, I can relive the experience in a matter of minutes, and without the audio. Which sounds oh so much better than the reality!