(no subject)

Day Two of the Toilet Survey passed without mishap today, though it went a bit slower than yesterday.

I have now identified seven different varieties of toilet bowl, four of which represent 1930s types.  And I'm starting to characterise them with the same precision that I'd describe a more up-market kind of artefact, like a collared urn, or a Bronze Age spear, with detailed descriptions of rim sections and pedestal plans, etc. 

But the highlight of the day had to be a two-room toilet block which had been subject to alteration.  One part had been retained as a toilet, while the other part had been modified as a Joiner's Workshop.  This is the real reason why building survey is important: when we walk into a room, our main task is to decipher the different phases of use within a building and try and establish its original use.  In this particular instance, it wasn't hard to do this.  The outlets of the toilets survived as blocked holes beneath a workbench.  And the urinal was still in situ.

'Ew!!' squeaked myself and my colleague, virtually in unison, as we contemplated the thought of working in such close proximity to a lovely piece of sanitory furniture.  When my dear husband was told the story, his response echoed that of our male colleague, that is somewhere along the lines of 'That's handy!'

Tomorrow, I'll be exchanging WC's for garderobes and guncotton/NC for black powder.  I'm being called off my usual job to carry out a base level survey of a medieval tower-house (or corner turret of a larger castellated structure, depending on your opinion.  I personally believe it's the latter..) which has been subject to a lot of Victorian restoration work.  I'll then be watching the removal of a 19th century forestair.

They say a change is as good as a rest, and my colleagues are all rather  jealous.  But - while this sounds idyllic -  if it means I'm stuck out in the pouring rain shivering while I watch the works progress, I won't be too chuffed.  I'll probably be wishing I was indoors with my nose stuck down a toilet bowl instead.  At least I'd be dry, if not exactly warm...

Some people are never satisfied, are they?

 

(no subject)

Day Two of the Toilet Survey passed without mishap today, though it went a bit slower than yesterday.

I have now identified seven different varieties of toilet bowl, four of which represent 1930s types.  And I'm starting to characterise them with the same precision that I'd describe a more up-market kind of artefact, like a collared urn, or a Bronze Age spear, with detailed descriptions of rim sections and pedestal plans, etc. 

But the highlight of the day had to be a two-room toilet block which had been subject to alteration.  One part had been retained as a toilet, while the other part had been modified as a Joiner's Workshop.  This is the real reason why building survey is important: when we walk into a room, our main task is to decipher the different phases of use within a building and try and establish its original use.  In this particular instance, it wasn't hard to do this.  The outlets of the toilets survived as blocked holes beneath a workbench.  And the urinal was still in situ.

'Ew!!' squeaked myself and my colleague, virtually in unison, as we contemplated the thought of working in such close proximity to a lovely piece of sanitory furniture.  When my dear husband was told the story, his response echoed that of our male colleague, that is somewhere along the lines of 'That's handy!'

Tomorrow, I'll be exchanging WC's for garderobes and guncotton/NC for black powder.  I'm being called off my usual job to carry out a base level survey of a medieval tower-house (or corner turret of a larger castellated structure, depending on your opinion.  I personally believe it's the latter..) which has been subject to a lot of Victorian restoration work.  I'll then be watching the removal of a 19th century forestair.

They say a change is as good as a rest, and my colleagues are all rather  jealous.  But - while this sounds idyllic -  if it means I'm stuck out in the pouring rain shivering while I watch the works progress, I won't be too chuffed.  I'll probably be wishing I was indoors with my nose stuck down a toilet bowl instead.  At least I'd be dry, if not exactly warm...

Some people are never satisfied, are they?