Papering Over The Cracks

A day off work today, as a photographer I know called Theresa was flying over for the day from Dublin to visit Beeston for the first time and a see a friend called Marysia that we both know.

We all met up at L'Oliva's cafe on the High Road, and had a good chat over a drink and some food. A little later we went for a walk down at the marina in the afternoon sunshine. Chatting and taking photos. Marysia had her dog Tag with her, who is a bit of a star on LinkedIn.

At the side of the lock keeper's cottage, there is an old building that has been derelict for a number of years now, but recently some funding has been received so it can be renovated and eventually will be turned into a educational centre, with a cafe and allotment.

Marysia is involved in the project and so she started taking to one of the men that was working on the site. He asked us if we wanted to have a look around, and as it is usually off limits to the general public, we all of course said yes.

And so we spent some time walking around the grounds and taking photos. We also went inside the building, which was a in varying states of rebuild. Upstairs were the bedrooms. One was obviously for a child, as the walls were still covered in Care Bears wallpaper. So obviously it hadn't been touched since the 1980s. Another room had had a lot of wallpaper removed. But a couple of walls still had paper on them. Some stripping had taken place to reveal this Chinese or Japanese design from I would say the 1950s.