Fireplace

I wonder what things it has seen in its time. Assuming it's as old as the house, and there's no reason not to think so, then it's a hundred and twenty years old. What happened in the living room in front of its silent gaze? Did someone discuss a relative serving in the Boer War? Or receive a telegram from the Western Front in 1917. Opening letters from an adventurous uncle who'd travelled across the United States looking for work in the Great Depression. Another war in Europe, another telegram? Into the era of air travel and reading postcards from the other side of the world. Tales of Woodstock, when the street was a hippy hangout? And then letters home from the family of the previous owner, all before we started our time here. We slept on an air bed in this room shortly after we moved in while the damp treatment work was being done upstairs. And we've spent lots of ordinary 'down-time' here, sitting watching telly, or listening to music or reading. And several parties have at least partly ended up in here. Like New Year three years ago with some of my East European friends from college. Then it became L's room for a while, before the roof came down. It's now almost back to normal and will shortly be a living room again. And later when we move on, what new stories will there be?