Acker Bilk
My last house was not exactly shoddily-built, but it was certainly true that it had been thrown up for the lowest possible cost at some point in the seventies. It was semi-detached, and the wall between my house and next door was pretty thin.

My neighbour was a retired builder. I didn't know him well, but he seemed like a nice guy. Unfortunately, because of the thin walls, there wasn't much in the way of sound insulation; I could frequently hear his TV, and when the TV wasn't on, I could hear his music playing. He loved Acker Bilk. Specifically, he loved "Stranger on the Shore", and would demonstrate his love by playing it repeatedly.

What puzzled me was this: I learned that not only was he an ex-builder, but that it was he who'd built the house in which I (and he) lived. In fact, he'd built all eight of the houses on the cul-de-sac. So why hadn’t he done the respectable thing and moved to Mexico to live off the money he’d presumably made from building cheap-as-chips houses? Or, looking at it the other way, why didn’t he ensure that at least the house in which he intended to live was slightly better put-together? Was he living in one of his own less-than-high-quality creations as a form of expiation?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 2 Oct 2009, 14:23, 4 replies)

It's a commonly-repeated truism
that architects should have to live in a building they have designed.

Maybe he decided he should live in one he built?
( Mockingbird Practitioner of SCIENCE, Fri 2 Oct 2009, 14:55, closed)

mmm... acker bilk you say
Your post is random and odd, what beeswax is it of yours that your neighbour would choose to live in one of his creations??
Maybe he liked the design and the location, perhaps he didn't make enough money from the deal to move to mehico... and maybe you have unusually acute hearing.. you should become a superhero, bat boy perhaps, or sonic man...
mmmm

p.s. have you moved?
(TROLLING AWAY living under a post ironic bridge, Fri 2 Oct 2009, 17:00, closed)

Oh, yes - I've moved.
I'm only interested in where he lived on the principle that, if he knew how cheaply the houses were, why did he opt to live in one of them? Or, if he'd been intending to live in one all along, why didn't he put a bit of effort into the one he wanted for himself?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 2 Oct 2009, 19:54, closed)

Interesting post.
My grandparents used to live in a terraced house; which had been built by the lead builder, for himself to live in after construction.

It was built to a higher standard than the rest of the street: It had an alleyway to itself, whereas the others shared one between two properties; the masonry was higher-grade bricks with superior mortar; two doors at the front and back of the house (so entering or leaving was, to my childs eyes, like using an airlock); and so on.

In pretty much every respect, it was over-specced; built like a brick shitehouse. The actual brick shitehouse in the back yard (used mainly as Grandad's private sanctuary and backup to the indoor bathroom) was built like a bunker; and alongside the shed of bricks & concrete, was used as such during WW2.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Sat 3 Oct 2009, 2:46, closed)