On a different note

I have been watching a British show, Restoration Home. Each season it follows the fates of a half dozen dilapidated but historic buildings in Britain as they are restored by their new owners. Most of these folks have access to capital but most of them also do a lot of the work on their new homes themselves. Both couples and families with children, they clearly love these old buildings. Some of the combinations of grit and adventure, risk, time and energy and physical endurance involved are pretty damn amazing.

A young couple buys an old Baptist meeting house and turns it into a home, with incredible effort and perserverance. The episode on turning St Peter's Barn into a home, a one-man project from start to finish, is really impressive. This dude does absolutely everything. And smiles about it.

There's a historian and an architecture expert to add their perspectives. Even the matronly hostess, herself a lover and restorer of old buildings, is appealing (despite the UK overuse of extraordinary! marvelous! fantastic! and amazing!).  Seeing native Brits caring about their own heritage and making over these beautiful structures for themselves, with passion and sweat: It's inspiring.

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