Houston we've had a problem ....

Can you remember where you were on April 17th, 1970?

I was at a cub scout meeting, actually we'd all gone next door to Karl's house to watch the arrival and splashdown of Apollo 13 as the three astronauts completed what seemed an unlikely safe return after the explosion that cost the mission and nearly cost their lives. For students of accuracy the actual phrase is as in the title of this post although the phrase is often misquoted as "Houston we have a problem".

Our equivalent of Jim Lovell's words are when Adam says "Tim, you might need to have a look at this".

In our case "this" has been

• the number of insect holes in the wood of an A frame (these are the major structural timbers that hold up the roof)
• a big bend in the line of one the walls
• a loose sablier (the stones that sit on top of the wall and support the roof)
• a drip of water coming through one of the major beams (how did that get in there ?)

A Frame - with added insect holes

and any number of other major, significant or minor problems that turn up everyday in renovating a 200 year old building.