The Money Pit

We've Got Some Brass

Last week was the quarterly combination of the Swinderby and Newark antique fairs took place. Swinderby takes place on the Tuesday/Wednesday and Newark on the Thursday/Friday. We used to only go to Swinderby but now only got to Newark. They're only held a couple of miles apart and the lots of stall holders attend both, but we've found Newark to be of much better quality.

We went there - as usual - knowing what it is we wanted. Like with all shopping Karen likes to browse and buy on impulse, whereas I prefer to know what I want and just track that down. On this occasion I knew I needed a load of brass and knew exactly which stalls to visit to get it.

Here's the haul I came away with:

It's made up of:

Two brass reproduction finger-plates	£22
Two chrome-plated reproduction finger-plates for bathroom door	£22
Four coat hooks	£14
Four pairs of reproductions beehive door handles	£56
Eight original brass handles complete with "character"	£40
Sash window latch and lifting handle	£30
Chandelier hook	£16
Total	£200

To me this seems like a bit of a bargain to me. All of what I bought is solid metal and the two bags I came away were reassuringly weighty. I don't know how much it all would have cost had I bought elsewhere but I'm sure there's nowhere you can find it any cheaper. That's what I love about "Swinderby" (as we tend to call whichever one we go to).

If you haven't been before you really should check out what's available and how much cheaper it is than the shops. The next Newark fair is in February. Check the DMG website for more details.

Me, The Riparian Owner

A hand-delivered envelope came through the door just now. Addressed to "The Occupier" it almost went straight in the bin, but something made me think twice and open it up. Inside was a letter from the Environment Agency.

Apparently I am a "riparian owner" -- the owner of land that forms the bank of a watercourse. What shocked me was that the Ouse Dyke, which makes one side of our boundary, is classified as a "main river".

When does a hill become a mountain, a puddle a pond or a stream a river? Who knows! One thing I do know is that what we have running past our house is definitely not what I'd call a river and by no means a main river. It's a stream, if that. Although its actually called a dyke. Teehee.

The letter states that it's the agency's job to manage the flood risk, but that I too have responsibilities, which the letter sets out to summarise. More on that here -- "Living on the edge".

You can get an idea of what I'm talking about here. The dyke doesn't actually run through the garden, in that you can't actually see it or make a "water feature" of it. To get to it you have to take the ladders to the bottom of the garden and climb down the wall in to it.

Here it is after a particularly heavy down-pour:

Here's a photo of it about half a mile upstream looking back down towards us and the local church. 

Despite the alarming nature of the letter and learning I own land next to a main river and thus live in a flood risk zone, what made me take notice was the part where it states that I need special "consent" from the Environment Agency if I plan to build "any structure... ...on the bank of the watercourse".

It's as if they read my mind and knew my plans to knock down the garage and rebuild it. The picture below is a grab I took when I worked at our local county council. Dead centre is our garage. As you can see it's on the bank of the "river". Drat!

As if seeking the usual planning permission wasn't hassle enough I now need to talk to the environment agency too...