Layers

This is the lane behind the cottage where I live and this is what I see when I stand at the sink, washing up.

That yellow hose is draped around the old water pump. All the water in the cottage is now piped down from the tarn, which is about a mile away, and I guess that's what originally supplied this pump (but I don't know). I wonder if it used to freeze up in the winter? God, life was much harder a hundred years ago!

It's not unusual to see old artefacts around here. It seems that when the new is installed, then the old is left where it was, unless it's in the way. And so history piles up, layer on layer.

When we first moved up we lived on a farm, which had loads of old barns and outbuildings. I used to go and explore them occasionally. I had to be cautious; some of the floors wouldn't take my weight.

In one room were loads and loads of old books, all in good condition, and lots of old farm equipment that hadn't been touched in years. There was also a series of old ledgers, leather bound, that had the details of the farm workers, what they'd done and when they were paid. I was always so tempted to take them, so that they were cared of and not just left there.

A few years ago the buildings were converted into offices. History won't have been layered on this occasion. I wonder most times that I go past just what happened to all those wonderful old things.