[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I have reached one of life’s milestones recently – to my astonishment I find that I have been in the property business for more than 44 years – initially working in an estate agency then, after qualification in 1979, as a surveyor.
The years roll on, and I have given thought to the things I remember from those early days.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]I was reminded only recently when, during a survey of a house, I warned the lady owner that I was about to “pull the chain” (to test sanitary fittings). She rightly pointed out that there are very few of the old high-level flushing cisterns remaining, and youngsters wouldn’t know what I was talking about. Do you remember the very imperious-sounding names of these old cisterns, like “The Viceroy” and “The Burlington”, many of which were rusty and noisy? Few properties were insulated, timber window were invariably rotten and draughty.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1583″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There are many phrases and things that probably wouldn’t mean much to today’s youngsters. We might frequently use the term “spend a penny”. Do you remember the big brass locks on the public convenience toilets – the ones with a large sliding knob on the front face? Public phone boxes with press buttons A and B? An open coal fire, might heat a small house but many of today’s kids wouldn’t know what a ‘coal bunker’ was.
I remember the “rag and bone” man collecting scrap metals on a cart. I recall that my first small car (a Morris 8), had a “side valve’ engine. In youthful optimism, I stripped the engine out for repair and couldn’t get it back together again. Shame …if I still had the car, it would be worth good money now.
Petrol was three shillings a gallon (that’s 15p) and I never did fill the fuel tank up…..couldn’t afford it!
Time marches on, and in the future today’s young people will wonder what we did before electric cars were invented. They will accept the ever-burgeoning wind farms, and solar voltaic panels will become the norm. Draughty windows will be a thing of the past; chimneys will be a rarity,
I guess I am sounding like a bit of a dinosaur as I struggle to master the new ‘Windows 10‘ on my computer.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Chris Ennis FRICS is a Chartered Surveyor Tel: 01903 261217 email: surveyor1@talktalk.net www.propdoctor.co.uk[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
