After a spectacularly hot week, it decided to rain solidly all weekend. Not quite being in the mood for a day's digging in the pouring rain, we spent the day cleaning and tidying. It is a very long time since the place saw anything resembling regular maintenance.
We also welcomed another new recruit, who joins the small army of Daves volunteering on the railway. He showed admirable enthusiasm for the less-than-exciting work at hand, first washing and wiping-down our collection of broken pottery, and then by cutting back the new growth on the side of the bank. It seems only yesterday that Cutting 'Edge laid it bare, but already brambly tendrils are reaching out to trip up the unsuspecting volunteer, and nettles are encroaching upon the stairs.
Meanwhile, one of our longstanding Daves cleaned up the area around the stove, again. A visit from the vandals a few weeks ago meant that some of the last remaining plaster on the walls had fallen down and needed sweeping up. This reveals floorboards that, while still able to hold a person's weight, are certainly in need of replacement.
Downstairs, the acquisition of some new polypropylene storage boxes is beginning to make a difference to the heaving shelves of interesting finds. Mostly-interesting, anyway. The least valuable items (unrecognisable lumps, general litter) were moved round to the battery room for disposal, while the better ones, from which the history of the building can be deduced, were cleaned up, sorted and stowed in the new "boxen".
While it would always be nice to keep and catalogue everything, some of the things we've found have no foreseeable future, either operationally, for historical reference, or as museum exhibits. We haven't enough space to store it all.
