INHEIRITANCE !!!

Inheritance...
Now there is a loaded word.  Like a shotgun sighted and ready to explode at any family funeral.  Perhaps even before that event..
    Ever taken down a painting from the wall to change things around a bit and found a little coloured sticker on the back with the name of a loved one or other family member?   How did that get there ?... When was it put there?   How long has that particular piece been coveted by that family member?   How many other little coloured stickers are you going to find ?  You start going over your rooms like a politician looking for bugs...      Who else has thought to get in early?
   Would you,  put dibs on some coveted piece before the old relative  is cold or would you wait and see what comes your way,  fight it out with the living, or throw a guilt ridden bone to the old loved one in the hope it comes your way with out a fight.  How much do you want that "thing" ..What are you prepared to barter for the spoils...

The biggest problem with finding an heir.   By heir I just mean the person who gets to be the custodian of the odd bits of china and the old Turkish rug thats fraying in the back room.  The one that you were left with by the previous custodian, who was left it by the one before that ....
These things have been around all your life, you grew up with them.  Lightning would strike you if you threw them out ..
So its important to choose wisely.  Who is more likely to feel sentimental?.. and... who is the one that will hock it before your cold?   Important stuff !  Your not just passing on an old rug, a pair of earrings or bits of old china.  Your passing on the memory of your parents and your grandparents.  They put their trust in you. This is the rug that your mum played on as a child.  The one her grandfather gave her grandmother as a wedding gift.  These things are the ones to keep!..to be continued ..passed down...
I really don't care who gets the house ..I will have probably have spent that before I leave ..but if its left ,..They can fight over it until the second coming, I don't care! ..What keeps me up is, who gets the china and the turkish rug and who thinks they won because they did!..............

The chairs you see in these photos are part of a suite, a two seater, two tubs and four single chairs they are hand carved victorian ebonized mahogany.( I'm not certain about the wood as the ebonizing hides the grain)  To find a complete suite is rare, near impossible these days and this one was offered in a house contents sale with discarded bits of mismatched china and old rugs.  Left to the wrong relative, I think and hocked.  In its day this would have been a prohibitive purchase.  A well thought out buy to pass the test of time and last the distance

there are four of these 

I hope I've done justice to these chairs I found a piece of the original green silk and I've tried to match it as close as possible ..while still making them fit todays tastes..

I had to strip the upholstery right back .
it was worth it !

These victorian sofas make great bedroom chairs 

With all the chairs I find thrown out or discarded in garage sales that I restore, I write what I know of their history.  Where I found them, and the condition I found them in.  If I have a piece of the original fabric I put that and a gift to the future in, a few coins or a silver charm I put all this in a small plastic zip lock bag and staple it to the interior of the chair ..so one day,  the next person to restore the chair will have a little bit of the past to go on and perhaps will continue the story and put his or her contribution in the bag and put it back in the chair for the next one to find ..a living history in furniture...

THE QUEENSLAND FLOODS ..The damage to history

     I'm back from my trip .. while I was away  the Queensland floods were in full flow ..I was proud of the response the Australian public made to the call for help ...It was noted overseas and often commented on.  On local TV and in newspapers ..People who knew me as Australian would come up to me and congratulate me on our comradeship, on our willingness to help others and our willingness to get in there and get dirty ..
My audience is small but I have no other. ..So I will use what I have to convey the wishes of many overseas that saw what was happening and felt for us , and send their wishes of a speedy recovery ...

While remembering the devastation of the floods and the damage it does. I was thinking of all the damage to furniture ..particularly to the older pieces that have been with families for a long time ..and treasured !..
Those of you who know me and my horror of valuable history being thrown into landfill because of fashion. This is a travesty because these pieces will be discarded because of necessity ..Their owners have little time to think about restoring ..They have more pressing needs, so if anyone has any ideas of how some of this history can be saved ..I'm listening

I'm willing to do some of the restoring ..but transport  of the goods is needed...

perhaps it could be organized for upholsters and restorers to get together to do workshops of repairs with volunteers ...

The Toilet Paper Thief

   Stealing,  Pilfering, Swiping, Scrumping, Snowdroping,....There 's a lot of words for taking what's not yours and the word used usually indicates the degree in which we see the crime.  Scrumping apples, pilfering ashtrays, (from hotel rooms),  snowdroping underwear, (from clothes lines).  No matter how quaint the word is, it's wrong, it's annoying and it's antisocial,  and my sufferance at the moment is the toilet paper  thief.  I own a shop and I hire fancy dress costumes.  I also serve coffee to my customers and I have both a private and customer toilet.  If the amount of toilet paper is any indication of the success of my business I think I'm  doing very well thank you, but the pie chart is flawed.  I'm not that good at math but x times toilet paper = customers, just does not add up.  I don't understand the toilet paper economy.
   why would you.  Anyone!! steal toilet paper!  How much is it going to to add to  the family budget if you stuff a roll of toilet paper in your hand bag or pants pocket.  How much toilet paper does a family go through anyway and how would that change the budget...With the amount of toilet paper disappearing from my humble store, and if it is assumed that every store is targeted to the same extent then only a third of the people using toilet paper actually pay for the toilet paper they're using ..talk about wiping someone else's a..!   If you do it !  Don't !..It just  contributes to embarrassing situations.  Like people peeping around the corner of the toilet door trying to catch my attention as they crouch there with their legs crossed ...
   I have often  wondered about  poo  smeared public toilet walls ..Not any more ..Some moron swiped , flinched , poached, misappropriated or snitched the bloody toilet paper ...

The Trip Home ..Fiftyfive Hours from Door to Door

 There're mixed feeling coming home from a holiday , even a short one . There is the regret  that its over, that all the fun is behind you , until next time ..and that could be a while in my case , but then your looking forward to your own bed,  your own bathroom with all the things you didn't pack..to seeing your friends and getting back to normal because being on holiday can be draining

So things weren't looking good when, on my way home I found myself stuck in Istanbul, and I'd lost my glasses to boot ..We, the passengers of of the fated Turkish airlines flight were not privy to why the plane was so late but when we did arrive  in Istanbul we were rushed off the plain to try to connect with ongoing flights ..and in the rush I lost my glasses ...I was told my connecting flight was waiting at gate 216  and to hurry.. so off I run the 3 miles to the other side of the airport to catch my flight, only to arrive clutching my chest and trying to force air into my lungs  to stop the pounding in my ears to hear that the plane had already gone ..WTF.. didn't someone call ahead to say I was on my way?..I ask what can be done and I was told I had to return to the other side of the airport to the airlines desk to sort it out .
...So back the 3 miles I go to a circus worthy of a Faulty Towers script..As I arrived at the desk ,others were coming off other, ill fated flights ...and the desk was getting very crowded and I don't  think I have ever witnessed so many angry people ..all shouting at once and  waving their arms to be noticed, all trying to get connecting flights to different parts of the world .There seemed at one point to be as many staff as customers ..
Obviously the squeaky wheels were dealt with and I was constantly pushed back in the line as they were having trouble with my connection between Singapore and Sydney ..so after a few hours I was given a ticket for the next day ..On the same flight just 24 hours later ..I was trying to see the up side of this, concerned  I would miss Australia day but maybe finally getting to see the blue mosque that I missed the first time around ..I was asked to wait a little longer as they were going to find my luggage ..Another half hour or so wait .. Instead of my luggage they now come back with still another ticket ..I'm now leaving tomorrow at noon so I can now go to the hotel ..Go go !!..I'm the last to leave, all the other customers had been given flights or hotel rooms ..and I alone was left ..The staff had also dwindled to five ..They point the direction >>> in which they want me to go ..I am no longer their concern ..I m tired and hungry by now, the only meal I have had in the past twenty hours was lunch on the flight from Barcelona .I stoop and drag myself another mile or so in the direction indicated ..through passport control and down through the barrel of the airport ..there is no one around.!! Im alone in this cavernous space and its eerie ..really there's no one!!..In the distance I see a cleaner pushing his cart so I pounce on him and ask where the hotel reservation booth is,  the only thing he understands is HOTEL and he points >>>> towards the end of the air port ..I see a double door and a desk ....On the desk is an open newspaper ..I push through the doors to the outer space of the airport ..Still no one around but now I can see a sigh with HOTEL RESERVATIONS  and I start to see that welcome bed and a shower and food...but
 I stop, I realize I had just gone through customs....CUSTOMS!! ...why all the hassle with security during the day if at night you can just walk out ...I was not at that point complaining, it would have just held me up anyway
  The man behind the counter was very kind and very friendly ..He sits me down and asks with a big cheesy smile  ( that should have given it away ..but did I say how tired I was ) What type of hotel would I like? .".four star ..five star perhaps ?." " Istanbul has many wonderful hotels "..I thought in my sleep deprived and hungry state that perhaps Turkish airlines were compensating me, for keeping me so late when every one else had gone ..So I'm kind too and say "all I want is a nice clean room to take a shower and a clean bed as I'm only going to be in it for a few hours or so ..He looks confused , I remind him that the airline will be picking me up in the morning at ten thirty ..His smile fades as the penny drops, and he asks the appropriate  questions to find I'm in the wrong booth and "come let me show you where !" Now if Turkish airlines had that I would be on my way to the hotel by now ..
  I'm introduced to the woman now that is going to find me a hotel room, so I have to sit and wait , I ask if I can have access to the internet .NO!! Maybe at Starbucks .." they will let me "..and I have time to ask as the shuttle from the hotel will take about twenty minutes ....twenty minutes!!!! ..that means it will take twenty minutes to return to the hotel ..if it were not for the shower and the possibility of food I would have thought it a better idea to stay at the airport!..
.Back to STARBUCKS..The little weed behind the counter said no!! I must  buy internet time ..I had no turkish money ,..I had given the change I had to a friends grandchildren before I left Spain ...and he wouldn't or couldn't take credit ..I had no idea what time it was in Australia anyway ..
  So Finally I'm in the hotel ..Its a travel lodge type hotel ..It was clean but no chance of a snack at this hour ! the kitchen was closed and the rooms don't have free internet, only the lobby ..I can use that in the morning I'm told ..I had the feeling they wanted to get rid of me and perhaps back to a backgammon game in the back room somewhere ...I was way too tired to argue ..I wanted a shower as much as I wanted a bed ....
  Its like minutes ...and there is this terrible noise in my head.  Its the alarm call to say I have got to get down now!!! A bus is picking me up early to take advantage of the shuttle going to the airport with other guests ..DAM!!!I dress as quickly as I can ..I have got to eat !..Im starting to feel queasy ..
I pore some coffee into a cup ..OMG!!!!! I forgot how bad the coffee was here ..I put some precooked eggs and mushrooms on a plate ..No time to wait to toast bread..I ask about the internet while I see guests being chauffeured into a minibus ..I knew it was mine as I see them fanning the room looking for me ..I make like I don't see them as I put my head down and quickly type off a general status on face book of my situation and for someone to find my ride home ... I had booked a shuttle home from the airport and he would be waiting with his little sign as I came out the customs exit ...DAM!!! they find me and give me this look .... How dare I hold things up!
  We get to the airport and the driver parks the furthest from the Singapore airlines counter ..The other "paying" guests  must be using another airline ..I'm sure there should be some restriction on the size of airports !!..I go to information ..There was no pre checkin done !!I have to wait in line to check in ..
 No worries!! I'm the first in line as I got here early!!..did I say that I only got a few hours  sleep!!...Thankfully the plane is underbooked and I can have three seats together ..woohoo!!  at least I'll be prone ..with my feet up ..soft pillows and I can close my eyes .......but then the girl at the counter asks ....Where are your bags ??????WHERE !! WHERE !! How the F... am I supposed to know ..They could be in greenland for all I knew or cared ...all I want is to go home ..Strap me to the wings with grapper tape I don't care just get me home !..A raised eyebrow from the hostess .."What is grapper tape"??.
..I thought, ..and that is dangerous when traveling ..that this was taken care of last night  AHHHH!! but no .there is a mad rushing around by a group of attendants ..Another oxymoron !.. All looking as if doing something important ..and they are ..THEY ARE HOLDING UP THE  bloody PLANE !! and passengers start asking what the problem is ..why aren't we boarding ?..Why are we leaving late ...I don't have the heart nor the energy to tell them what they're in for ...
  A young woman comes running up all sweaty and intense to let me know they have found my bags ..but I have to identify them before they can put them on the plane ..they have my name on them ?...yes, but still I have to identify them ...
  I was the very  first in line at the check in desk, now I'm the last to enter the plane ..Everyone is seated with their bags stored waiting to take off ...As I walk to the very back of the plane to take my three seats they all look at me ..Shame ..Shame!!.I'm the one that made them late !!
I find my three seats ..but as I sit alone in my three seats I'm starting to think the motives for giving me the three seats had more to do with fact that I hadn't brushed my teeth since I left Barcelona ..I was asked on the return trip to put ALL my bags through check in and I didn't mind as I was going straight home  so had no toiletries  with me ..only my handbag and I didn't think to take any out when my hand luggage was checked in ..I think my breath would have melted  glass ..Then.. this beautiful, and have you noticed they are all beautiful ..Singapore  airline hostess gave me a little zipper bag with a pair of socks and a toothbrush and a tiny tube of paste ..Thank you !!! Maybe in Turkey they were to polite to notice ..I didn't sleep until I was  upgraded  to business class  in Singapore  but the food was good and I have to thank Turkish airlines  for putting me on a Singapore airlines flight ... I'll be home soon ..but its been close to sixty hours from start to finish . I'll be in my own bed...my bed.. ...ahhhhh!!!..that was a soft  satisfied very tired..ahhhhh!!!!

While waiting for my ride ...Cheap imports !

   While they have a place in our lives today ..Not the least of which is  keeping China busy and its prudent, I think to keep China happy !.. Having economical  things for us to buy is good within reason, but we have  lost  some of that...It's so seductive to have a new look every year, we spend all our time remodeling our homes because its cheap to do so with all this over merchandized stuff !! If you buy the sofa you need the vase ..The throw and the candles ..This goes with that and that and that and then again next year ..because it doesn't last !! ..It's not made to , the fabrics are poor quality, the construction basic and frail ..because they want you to come  around next year and get the "new look" the "fresh look" and you believe them because you stuff is looking" tired"and "old" In the mean time all our quality vintage pieces end up in land fill ..Not old enough to be classed as antiques ..and at the rate we are disposing of them they were not going to make it anyway ...
       If you had a choice between paying ..say two thousand dollars to restore and recover your grandmother's chesterfield or dropping into your local design furniture store and having a brand new one delivered this week ..Would you? ..Could you wait for grandma's to be done, would you pay that much for what you believe to be old furniture ? ..You should !!!..Because grandma's chesterfield was made to last ..and last and a quality piece will wear better than a new cheap imported one ..and the money you save and the time it frees up will give you the opportunity to go and learn how to restore some of the pieces yourself ..You will love them so much more if you have some input into them ...
Along with the furniture we are also losing the craft ..The artisan upholsterer with the book binder and the french polisher are being lost to our romance of all things brassy and cheap...

While on the subject of imports ..Buying online direct from the source has got to be the ....(I'll think of a word but stupid is the only one that comes to mind) ...Stupidest thing to do...To cut out the local merchant. ...The one that sends his or her kids to the same school as yours and buy direct !!!and I see this promoted in the media! ..What are we thinking ...
Some poor deluded refugee walks weeks over cold mountains and hot sands ...pukes his way across the straights in a leaking fishing boat , suffers the next two years in a refugee camp and thinks if  he suffers this, works hard and starts a little import business he can send his kids to school and  everyone will have a wonderful future ,only to find that the kids will have to repatriate back to where they came from and compete with half the local australian kids that have gone over there to find jobs because all the local jobs have gone broke because everyone is buying direct !!..and to top it all off because the local businesses have closed the area has deprecated and now your house is worth only half of what you paid for it because you wanted to save a few dollars on a cheap import...smart!!!

a trip to turkey

  
    I 've  packed the compressor away  as I'm off to see a friend in Turkey then on to Spain for a few weeks
Its my very first Holiday holiday since I started working for myself,( self employed.  Now there's an oxymoron ..)
when you start working for yourself you work for everyone  but yourself ..The bank ..The taxman ..The customers.  There is no time for self in self employed... .You squeeze a little in here and a in little there ....but I wouldn't change it. I love what I do ..and there in lies the rub .. I chose this. ...So I work harder at it ..but I can also mix it up .. I have to be here in the store  (which is in a warehouse )..but I don't always have to do store work. As long as the customers are looked after and happy ..and you do need to look after them as they bring in the honey.... I can find time to "play" with my finds !!!

this mess

  

..And  now I have a friend who has been bitten by the bug ,and is on the look out for throw outs in her area to work on ..she comes over on wednesdays once a fortnight and we have "upholstery day" ..

Became this little beauty
 Its a victorian slipper chair

Here is one of her  finds ..this was her first and she did buy it at an auction ..she has since learnt thats not the only way..