On an Empty TP Roll, a Long-Lost Message

From bowling ball graveyards to human remains, homeowners sometimes find the most unexpected things while exploring or renovating their new digs. For one British couple, their discovery was of the "heartwarming" kind, and one decades in the making, per SWNS. The outlet reports that Charlotte England-Black, 30, and her husband, Jordan, also 30, moved into their abode in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, in February, but it wasn't until the beginning of July that they began prepping their attic to add a loft. That's when England-Black stumbled upon what appeared to be a bunch of garbage left behind by the previous owners, including a pair of worn overalls, an old sink, and a used-up toilet paper roll, stripped down to its tube.

It was on that last item that England-Black noticed something intriguing—a message scrawled in red marker across the TP roll's cardboard, apparently from a little girl who lived in the house in the '80s, per the Good News Network. "My name is Emma Waddingham. My birthday is February the 4th. I was born in 1982," the author wrote, noting she was almost 8 years old at the time the message was written in late 1989 or 1990. The note on the TP time capsule ended: "I hope you enjoy staying here, love from a friend."

Amazingly, locals were able to track down Emma for England-Black just a few minutes after England-Black posted about the message on a community Facebook page. Emma, whose last name is now Smith, is 43 and lives just a few miles away in nearby Nottingham; the BBC has pictures of Emma as a child and now. "I don't remember doing it and why I chose the toilet roll, we'll forever be wondering," she tells SWSN.

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Smith does, however, have "fond memories" of the home that now belongs to England-Black. "I had amazing wallpaper in my bedroom of [cartoon characters] Tom and Jerry, we had a duck called Donald, my dad had a little boat that he restored down the side of the house," she recalls. "It was a lovely place to spend those years." England-Black, meanwhile, says she intends to place the TP roll back in the attic. "In another 35 years, someone else might find it," she notes.