This is a pencilled date which is on my bedroom wall, just above my desk. It appears to be written straight onto the plaster. I imagine that whoever painted the house all those years ago decided to record the occasion for posterity. It has probably been obscured by a dresser or bookshelf for many years.
I suspect this means that our house is one of [if not the] oldest house in the street. It is certainly the tallest, and the architecture is quite uinque.
It is somehow comforting to feel a kind of connection with the house's occupants of some 120 years ago: I am sure that the light that comes in through the window in the morning would fall on the same points of the mantlepiece, and the same sounds would reverberate through the house as people climbed the staircase, and that the sound of birds in the back garden would subtly permeate their daily lives.
I wonder what other significance this particular date held to the person who felt the need to inscribe it upon the wall?
What a cool discovery!
ReplyDelete