rotten row revisited

When I examined the photos of squatter houses that I’d taken to use in Rotten Row #2, which I posted three days ago, I realized that I’d missed a few obvious opportunities to take more. When I showed the photos that I’d already taken to Paula, she wanted to see the location for herself, which meant that we approached the path where these houses are located in the opposite direction, so the sequence in which I took additional photos at the site is the reverse of the original order.

When I looked at the interior shot that I took of the last house in the row, I spotted what was almost certainly a banister, so there had to be a staircase:

The staircase didn’t look particularly robust, but I thought I should venture upstairs. There was a door at the top of the stairs, which was closed, but I carefully pushed it open. This is the front of the two rooms I discovered:

…and this is the rear:

I conjecture that the pictures on the wall right of the window are of family members.

This is the view inside the house with the gas canister outside the main door:

…and this is a look inside the room, the entrance to which you can see in the previous photo:

…while this is a view of the first room from the entrance to the inner room:

While I was inside taking photos, Paula remained outside on the path, and a man, a member of a small team presumably from the company tasked with demolishing these houses, asked her what she was doing. I heard her explaining that her husband was inside, to which the man replied that it was dangerous! Of course, the staircases were rickety, but I’ve been used to danger for decades.

I felt that it probably wasn’t a good idea to hang around though, not because of any intrinsic danger but merely because I would have preferred to take more time to ensure I got as many relevant photos as possible.

However, I did venture up the stairs of what was the first house in my original report. This is a view from the top of the stairs:

…and this is a look inside the left-hand room:

Finally, this is a look inside the open door that you can see at the end of what I described in my original report as ‘the first side alley’, which I hadn’t ventured down:

It does seem to me that, given how much perfectly good furniture has been left behind, and all the casual debris, that the inhabitants of these houses were simply told to get out immediately. I plan to take another look this coming Sunday, when nobody will be working on the site, to see whether I’ve missed anything.