Hard Tomes

Time to approach the Fourth Wall of the Third Room, or as it’s known, the last and hardest wall of the renovation of the original cottage. Which explains why I’ve left it until last.

In part, it’s because it’s got a shelf. It’s the shelf in the room. And yet, from whichever angle you look at it, it’s still there. Indeed, never mind how many brackets I unscrew, it is indeed Still There. It was there again today. I wish, I wish it’d go away. When I came home last night at three, the shelf was waiting there for me.

I just had to get to the bottom of it. Or side, as it were.

It turns out that so heavy were the Hard Tomes expected to rest on it I wondered if it was designed for notes for the Dickens Scholar. A huge steel bracket was custom made, and then screwed to the frame of the house – and weather board nailed over the top.

Then, to make really really sure that even in an earthquake, when the house had tumbled down, the only thing still standing would be that cursed shelf, there were screws that could only be accessed by taking off the outside weatherboard into the plank of the shelf.

So, with a heavy heart, I ended up peeling off the external weatherboard too, just to take down a curious, out of place shelf. Finally I got it out – and the room suddenly seems so much bigger. Indeed, without The Shelf In The Room, it’s possible to see the grand proportions of the original tap room. Or it would be, if I had a wall left – at the moment there’s just daylight coming through the empty frame.