A Thatched Cottage
There is something very snug, old and beautiful in the appearance of a thatched cottage. Two or three are still to be seen in a near-by village. They are in need of repair, and the problem of maintaining a watertight roof is complex when both material and labour are hard to find. The thatch of these particular cottages is wired to keep out birds. Some time ago I talked to an old man who lived in one. It was a mild day, and he sat on a chair outside his front door. He had no use for thatched roofs at all, he told me. You copid put a bit of wire to keep out the birds, but you couldn't stop half the insects of the world breed- ing in the thatch. It was like living In a beehive, he told me, and if the wire got out of place the birds bored in to eat the insects, and mice and even rats followed. Sometimes he found the thatch had a small advantage. Townsfolk were soft about " pretty " old hovels. They would pay him a shilling to sit or stand at the door while they took a picture. I had no camera, and he was telling me the bitter truth, he said.
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