Demolition, a Surprise and a Trip to Newark

Garett started demolition at the house on Tuesday.  He managed to take down some lathe and horsehair plaster walls on the top floor.  It was very dusty.  Meanwhile, there was another discovery under the stairs on the ground floor.  The previous owners left behind a metal trunk filled with tiles.  Each tile was individually wrapped in a newspaper from 1954 or 1955. We think the tiles came from the fireplace in the second reception room.  I did some research on the tiles and they are quite collectible because they were made by William De Morgan in the late 1800's during the aesthetic movement.  Suffice it to say that some museums have examples of these tiles in their collection. I'm thinking this discovery could potentially pay for the bathtub Garett doesn't think I'll use (£££)!

Later in the week we took a trip up to the Newark Antiques Fair.  On the way, we stopped at Audley End House and then we stayed in Cambridge before continuing on to Newark.  My main purchase  from the antiques fair was a very heavy cement lion for the back garden.  Mom bought a promotional-sized British red phone booth.  Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of either the lion or the phone booth.  Both were unique finds.

Garett begins demo on the house - he's standing where my bathtub will go in the master bath

A "before" picture of the kitchen

Looking at the kitchen from the front hallway (Mom in background)

William De Morgan "BBB" tiles

Garett posing by the trunk and our cache of tiles

The tiles are called "lustre" tiles because of their iridescent effect

Garett and Ryan on the top floor - Garett looks like a pro!

The wall between the future master bedroom and master bath

Garett and Marilyn at Audley End House

Ryan in front of the cloud hedge at Audley End House

Ryan at King's College, Cambridge (future scholar?)

Ryan and Shelly in Cambridge

Garett and Ryan at the Newark Antiques Fair

It's Official!

Today we officially "completed" on the purchase of our house in London.  It was a long road to get here and it was strangely anti-climatic at the end.  We received a phone call from our solicitor's office this morning, who told us to contact the seller's estate agent to pick up the keys.  We went to the estate agent's office and met Guy (the agent) in person for the first time.  He gave us an envelope with my name on it.  Inside was a key to the house.  No mountain of paperwork to sign, no proof of ID...nothing.  We must have signed the necessary paperwork at some point during the process, but I honestly don't remember signing many documents.  How did they know it was us? Must have been the American accent...

Next stop: the house.  The last time we were at the house was earlier this month to take measurements with Charlotte, our architect.  At that time, no effort had been made to start packing.  So it was no surprise to see "removal" men emptying the house today and throwing the contents haphazardly into the back of a truck that looked suspiciously like the trucks that picked up junk from our back alley on Locust Street.

The front door was wide open, so we walked in.  We met the brother of the woman living in the house, asked him a few questions and then let them get on with the removal.  A bit cheeky of the sellers to remove things after the sale was completed, but not a big deal to us.

It was a good thing we stopped by (and a good thing I asked if he knew anything about the previous owners) because he pulled out an old envelope stuffed with paperwork.  When we got home we discovered the envelope contained the deeds and mortgage documents for all of the previous owners going back to 1875.  Amazing!  The first three owners were a brick merchant, a tailor and a pianoforte string maker.  In 1875 the annual rent on the property was 6 pounds, 13 shillings and 4 pence for a 99 year lease. All of the older documents were written by hand on parchment paper and sealed with wax. We also learned the street was originally called Carrol Road.

Onward with the renovations!

 Removal truck on right and sold sign in distance (note fridge on sidewalk)

Mortgage taken out by Henry Child in 1880

Sale between Henry Child/George Reynolds and Ewald Dettmer

A large indenture document...two pages all handwritten

Busy weekend

Here are just a few pics of what's going on in the Indiana Mellor family.

Paul has been playing timpani in the Winter Drum Line.  They have competed several times over the last 6 weeks.  He had to be at school at 3:45 AM on Saturday morning to compete for the last time.  They did well, but not well enough to advance.  The picture below is from a week ago.  I took it during their warm-ups.

Grace has been doing an indoor soccer training this winter.  I snapped the photo on Saturday morning while she was scrimmaging.  She will start outdoor practices in a few weeks.  Don't you love the pigtails?

Elizabeth's play was this weekend and Marilyn, Kathy and Liza came in to see the Queen Mildred in Haphazardly Ever After.  The first picture is with her friends Lauren and Brielle who were Princess Peppermint and Princess Cinnamon.  The next two photos are with King Barnabas, played by fellow 8th grader, Jacob.  The last photo is of the whole royal family which includes the previously mentioned as well as Prince Hairgel and Prince Slacker.  (Patrick and Steve)  These 8th graders have been together since kindergarten and really anchored an amazing performance by all.  (I can't tell who the photo bomber is)

We have some videos of the band performance and will have a DVD of the play.  We will subject you to both if you'll allow us to!

World Book Day 2015

World Book Day 2015 - Pig from George Orwell's Animal Farm

This is the day when children in the UK dress up as a character from a book

Passo del Tonale, Italy

This week Ryan went on a school ski trip to the Italian Dolomites.  They stayed in Passo del Tonale and had ski lessons all week.  They also did fun activities like ice go-karting, snow sculptures, sledding (or sledging as they would say in the UK) and ski races.  One of Ryan's teachers kept the parents updated via Twitter all week.  We finally spotted a few pictures of Ryan this morning.

Ski lessons - I think Ryan is toward the top of the line (green plaid coat)

A few of Ryan's classmates head up the mountain

Race day - one of Ryan's good friends, Sam

After the ski race - Ryan in front

The boys pose for a group photo - Ryan in front

Sledding on Thursday

Ryan waiting for his turn

First Snow in London

Ryan's wish came true yesterday morning when we woke up to our first snow of the year.  He was running around the flat shouting, "Snow, snow, snow!!!".  Disappointingly for Ryan, there was not enough snow to cancel school...however, it disrupted the train lines and the commute into London for many people. Since I travel underground, my commute was fine and by the time I got to work there was hardly a trace of snow left.

The view from our flat early in the morning

Ryan on his way to school - with a big smile

The church cemetery looked peaceful

Dusting of snow creates chaos

Fun at the science museum - shinjleh uxaanii musei ujej baigaa ni

 Trying to catch flying ping pong balls to get the highest points

 Mississippi river view from the Science museum