[rhapsodic]

Props to you. I used to work as a carpenter, and I see the world differently because of it. When I walk down a city sidewalk past a brick building, I can picture what it was like, in say, 1910, when the brick facade was being laid. I'll look at a brick and wonder if it was hot, or cold, or rainy or sunny when that particular brick was bumped into its final resting place by the handle of the trowel, and I'll wonder what the mason had on his mind when he laid it.

When I used to build staircases, it always gave me pause to think that people not yet born would be walking up and down those stairs long after I'm dead. And that's the nature of your work. Your work product will outlive you by decades, or possibly centuries.

[leoedin]

In my loft someone has written their name in mortar on the chimney, along with the year - 1949.

It's amazing to think that person, probably relatively young when they built this house just after the war, is now either dead or pushing 90. A whole life lived with their name in the loft.

[wiz21c]

Some parts of my house are 200 years old (according to architect). That's truly mind blowing to see that it's still up !

Fun fact : when your house is so old, you have to take care of it the old way too... It's more expensive and nobody wants to do the job 'cos it's always trickier than new houses :-)

[jacquesm]

This is from the 12th century:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Overzich...

[Karto]

Come to Europe, masons' ghosts are all over... I used to live cheaply in a simple downtown appartment in a mediterranean city. Year carved in stone : 1724.

[leoedin]

I live in Europe! My house is not old for the area, and there's millenia of documented history for this spot. It used to be an observatory!

But it's still interesting - on a personal level - to think about the lives of the people who built it.