ONE STREET

Having a go at this wee project suggested by freespiral. This street is a tiny cul de sac with very little traffic, no shops or business premises, so it will be left to the houses to speak...

The whole street is B listed and this side is described by British Listed Buildings thus: 'Two-storey rubble-built row; painted, stugged dressings; part has attics, build 1840s.' So right away that's interesting, isn't it? 'Stugged' stone has been dressed by small regular indentations carried out by the stone mason. The houses on theother side of the road have droved dressings - bet you can't wait to see those. Rubble-built describes masonry constructed of unsquared stones that are irregular in size and shape.

For me, the most interesting house is in the centre of the picture, where most of the pink paint work has been scrapped away. This has been the labour of love carried out the owner over seven or more years. He is a real craftman, who does it all by hand, replacing the grouting at the same time with a lime mortar. He has slowed down a bit in recent times - I wonder if he doesn't really want to finish. The bright pink was the choice of the previous owner, one Mary Armour, a famous artist, one of the 'Glasgow Girls' and a 'colourist' . So maybe there is a good reason to keep a little of her colour for ever. The whole of the downstairs was her studio - she was still working there when I moved to the village in 1991. She had a row of colourful jugs hanging from the beams - some of her paintings show these jugs full of flowers.

I like the way the sun creates shadows, showing the form of the chimmney pots on the other side of the road. Thanks to the advent of cable, many of the ugly TV aerials have disappeared, and I have taken the liberty of cloning out some that remain.

Haven't been far from home today - yoga class in the morning and a major overhaul of the office in the afternoon. The desk is on the other side of the room, I have a new view out of the window, and piles of stuff have been moved to the dump or the attic. The place feels clean, fresh and ready for the next project. Bring it on.