My Life in Woodwork
My story as a woodworker began as a child in the mid 60's. My father would spend most of his evenings and weekends building stuff around the house out of wood. Shelves, cupboards and even bunk beds would magically appear, and my older brother, as the more practical of the two of us, was usually co-opted to act as his second. At the age of 8 or 9 however I was notoriously clumsy and a bit of a dreamer, qualities which combined to make any assistance I provided something of a mixed blessing.
I did not realise it at the time, but as I watched from the sidelines, fascinated by the beauty of the wood and utterly bewildered by my fathers perfectionism and attention to detail, I suspect the the die was cast. To this day, I can clearly remember him drilling holes with his trusty brace and bit and driving screws with his mechanical ratchet screwdriver. Naturally all the screw heads were precisely lined up either horizontally or vertically.
As a young adult, my reputation for impracticality stuck and I am not ashamed to admit I milked it for all it was worth. Time after time when a picture needed hanging, or a desk needed building my father or my brother would happily step up and help out.
Fast forward 30 years. Now a middle aged married man, having had a long and relatively satisfying career in music and media, I have successfully avoided hammering in a single nail or driving a single screw for the better part of 4 decades. I have had countless bookshelves, desks and wardrobes built by my brother and my father, and have shown them both the appropriate level of gratitude.
In the spring of 2011, my wife and I realised a long held ambition when we moved out of London to live in a beautiful farmhouse in the peace and quiet of the Suffolk countryside. By this time, my father was living in a small village in Burgundy and my brother was splitting his time between being a Westminster mover and shaker, and renovating a farmhouse of his own in The Rhone Valley. This was great news for my wine collection. Not so much when something needed fixing.
The following is placeholder text known as “lorem ipsum,” which is scrambled Latin used by designers to mimic real copy. Aenean eu justo sed elit dignissim aliquam. In sit amet felis malesuada, feugiat purus eget, varius mi. Nulla lectus ante, consequat et ex eget, feugiat tincidunt metus. Mauris id fermentum nulla.
Donec eget risus diam. Aliquam bibendum, turpis eu mattis iaculis, ex lorem mollis sem, ut sollicitudin risus orci quis tellus. Aenean eu justo sed elit dignissim aliquam. Nullam sit amet nisi condimentum erat iaculis auctor. Sed a ligula quis sapien lacinia egestas. Donec ac fringilla turpis.
