Time to explore the second house on the lot. It looked older than the first one, and knowing something about traditional family life back in the days in Finland, I think I can provide an explanation.
Back in the days it was common, that when you grew up and got married, you built your own house right next to your parents. If they were dead before your own kids grew up, the old kids would take over the old house. If not, then they would build their own next to the previous one, and so there would be up to three or four different generations living on the same lot.
When farming decreased, people moved to towns and cities and got less children, the old houses no longer found any use. It’s very common in rural Finland, that there’s a more modern, inhabited house standing on a lot, and next to it an old one, which is used as a storage and is slowly crumbling down. I think this is the history behind these two houses.
The bushes were so thick, I wasn’t really sure which way to approach the building. It was also very wet.
A newspaper from the early 1970’s. Fascinating.
It was also pretty difficult to get inside the house once I was on the porch. It was full of stuff.
Old, vintage coats and clothing were still hanging in the hall.
And the mess continued in the hall. In addition to clothing, I now started to find machinery parts and plastic items.
It’s not getting any better here. Moving around was extremely difficult.
I’m not completely sure, how many cars have red engines, but given that this is rural Finland, that may well be a Volvo red block engine – a variant of which is fitted on my summer car. Quite a coincidence.
Maybe I could take it with me as spare parts?
It just looks like somebody had once started piling stuff into one corner of the room and the pile had just continued growing until it was all over the place.
The old stove. Somebody had filled it, but never lit it.
Another room, a similar story.
There behind the debris is the kitchen.
Very old civics and reading books from times before the current elementary school system was established in the 1970’s.
The house has been built pretty close to the road.
An old sewing machine.
A very interesting wallpaper in the kitchen.
A box of pears. It has been sent to this address. I’ve just removed the details from the box.
Stairs painted in a vintage 1970’s green. Lovely.
More green on the walls and the roof.
I didn’t want to go deeper. I wasn’t entirely sure about the condition of the building. There was also quite a lot of weight on the floor.
But at least I didn’t have to return to my friend’s place empty handed.