The Complete Tangler

Victorian Fireplace - the heart of the old pub

Finally, it is complete.

Room number three.

The last task in the tangled web of jobs was painting the rather impressive fireplace. Well, impressive for Australia anyway, where fireplaces are a distinct rarity. Which is more unusual than you may think: far from being the land of eternal sunshine of the optimistic mind, it is the land of really quite cold and frosty winters.

As no one believes in central heating either, a fireplace is therefore a must. If only I had a spare forest – or even a tree – so I could cut the lot down and get some free logs.

The old pub tap room - now complete

The fireplace is, well, not that fancy: it wouldn’t get a glance against some of the more over the top Victorian fireplaces I’ve seen, but considering it was built out of wood chopped down straight from the bush, it’s OK, if you ignore the knot marks and large split up the middle. Clearly in the 19th century the carpenter was the low rung on the totem pole.

However the room is complete, freshly painted, and waiting for... well... I’m not sure what really.

It’s an unusual position to be in, having a room and having no idea what to do with it.


Other than put the original bar back of course.