I'm waiting on a subway line/I'm waiting for a train to arrive

Every time I'm waiting for public transportation The Walkmen's song "Thinking of a dream" pops into my head. All I can think of is "I'm waiting on a subwaaaay liiiiiiiiiiine, I'm waiting for a train to arrive, I'm thinking of a dream I had, I'm thinking of a dream I had *sweet organ playing*" Yup. Just thought I'd share. No real point to that. If you want to hear that song I'm sure it's on the Youtube or Hype Machine haha.

Just a quick post before bed here because time goes so flipping fast after I step out of the Benjamin Franklin House. It's like the day drags on there foreverrrr and as soon as I step out, BAM! Time for bed. Not to say that I'm not enjoying my time at the BFH. Actually, I am so don't worry.

It's just been slow at work. I don't really have much to do and the tours aren't really raking in the people lately. Hmm!

I had an interesting task to do on Tuesday though. I got to assist in making a conservation list for the house. Basically, we need a list of all the things wrong with the 300 year old paneling, floor boards, stairs and windows and see what is really desperately in need of repairs so that we can apply for a grant that will give us money to get those repairs!

So that was my job. I got to go around the house analyzing every nook and cranny for problems and let me tell you there was a lot. Like 8 typed pages worth. I mean, the house is five stories tall so I had a bit of space to work with there. I had to be pretty specific about what I saw too. For example, I'd have to write like "3 inch hole in floor board 3 feet out from main entrance, 4 inches from the right hand side wall" for example. Literally though, there is a 3 inch hole in the floor boards of our main entrance. Dangerous! We're not allowed to wear high heels in the house because the heels could go right through the floor boards haha. I guess two guests in the last two years have actually broken through a floor board or two. Yikes!

The house was in really bad shape before the Benjamin Franklin group took it over. It was originally built quite close to the banks of the Thames but the Thames was diverted so it sits farther back from the banks than it did before. But thanks to being built on coal dust (ok, not a suitable foundation AT ALL) the house is trying to relocated itself nearer to the Thames again because the foundation is so poor it's sliding to the south. Plus! During the Blitz in WWII, the houses across the street were hit with a bomb that blew out the facade of the house and made it all the more unstable.

A huge steel skeleton had to be put onto the outside of the house and covered over to keep it upright and a large steel beam had to be installed horizontally under the ground floor's floor boards as well. You can tell where the steel beam is because it creates a very noticeable hump in the middle of the ground room floors. Unsightly but pretty much necessary.

The paneling is all oringinal and for being 300 years old I'm surprised it's doing as well as it is. A lot of the panels are cracked and are gapping away from the wall but those can always be sealed and painted over. The original stair case is a mess still though and I think that's the project we're going to write the grant about. Basically all of the stair cases that face to the back of the house slope to the right and all the cases that face the front of the house slope to the left. It makes for some very uneven walking!

So yes, I've turned in my conservation list and the operations manager thought I was very thorough and did a good job so I'm glad that I got the opportunity to do some historic preservation work hands on and this is just the start of that as well. I'll be allowed to be more hands on as more work gets underway.

Also, I really like most of the interns there and it's nice to make new friends! It's still early days but maybe I'll be able to hang out with them outside of work sometime.

The other day I did get to hang out with my friend Jan after work and I hadn't seen her for two years so it was great. We got smoothies and walked about the Oxford St area together. We didn't get to hang out very long but it was quality time at least! I've a picture of us but no time to upload it at the moment.

Tez is still working the night shift. Yesterday I felt like a stalker because as I was leaving London from St. Pancras International, Tez was arriving and I saw him get off his train on the opposite platform but he didn't see me. If I had had a signal on my phone I so would have called him and freaked him out hahaha.

I feel like I've been neglecting my blog and picture taking and communication with people back home and work I need to be doing for the archive. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

I might head into London on Saturday to go visit some museums that I've not had the opportunity before though because damn it, I've got this expensive Travel Card with unlimited travel for the week and the more I use it the more I feel better having paid for it, so there!