Thursday, February 07, 2008

Green Fence, etc



From today.

7 comments:

Alex said...

The Shed Wall looks like something I'd take. Like this wall in San Francisco
I see your shed and raise you an apartment block

I used to have them visible on my Blog, but iVillage changed format, and moved the photo directory, breaking a lot of links.

Alex said...

Again, I see another social comment/historical footnote in your "green fence" picture.

Looking at what seems to be a railway terrace we see functional Victorian industrial housing. We see the external, visible, plumbing (something you never see in CA) and a heap of satellite dishes, and an alarm on the house.

Is satellite TV a simple pleasure.
Is the dish worn as a badge saying "I Have". Was this why plumbing was external, or were these houses built without plumbing, and like the dishes, is a retrofit?

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Must be the latter.

They say the brits put the plumbing on the outside of their houses because it's easier to fix when it freezes...

What's a "railway terrace"?

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Though, thinking about it, when I see pipes on the outside of houses here, it seems to me they are usually just downpipes.

Alex said...

Railway Terrace is a common name for a street of terraced (joined) houses above a railway cutting or on an embankment. Kinda like High St is a common name for the main street of high street through town. Though I don't know if "railway terrace" can be used as a noun.

Bolton being a mill town nestled in the hills has switchback roads which look like this one. In other, flatter parts of the country such a deep drop would easily be associated with a railway or canal. I did try to find the street to confirm if it was above a railway, but the name was part occluded, and my Manchester A-Z (like a Thomas Bros Map) is back at my parents house.

It's normally just the foul pipes outside. Often the foul pipe and roof downspout, both of similar guage, are separate. The foulpipe extends above the guttering to vent , and is enclosed at the ground. They have a junction where the commode, bath and sink run into it at a shallow angle.

Downspouts are open at the bottom, and only take roof water.

Damn, I wish I had that photo I took in Chester from the walls. It's from behind the old PO on St Johns St. There are two levels with toilets on the rear, and the array of piping is so evident and functional; it would illustrate this point perfectly.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

"foul pipe" feels like a very british expression... I can't find a definition. "Foul" means bad... toilet pipe?

No railway, but it's on the edge of the Valley.

Alex said...

Strange, I'll look in my older British dictionaries and see if it is there. Yes, toilet down pipe.

The only references I found on-line were from a few builders merchants and water boards, and then references to tobacco pipes.