To say that this last year has been a bumpy ride is a huge understatement! My family and I were all set to move from our idyllic forest-side location to a home closer to town. My two teenage boys could be bearer their school and social activities and my wife and I could be closer to our friends too.
With the big move planned for early July 2024 we had moved our belongings into a storage facility and I had emptied the workshop, packed it up and it too was in storage. I quite like moving house; many people think of it as a dreadful experience but I’ve always enjoyed the opportunity to shed a little baggage and start over in a new place – I think it’s exciting.
However, at the very last minute our buyers withdrew from the sale al left us well and truly up a creek without a paddle. What to do? The prospect of moving everything back out of storage was not appealing but in the end that is exactly what we decided to do. So my workshop is now looking very sorry for itself. Boxes and machines lay strewn around the place and I can’t quite bring myself to set up shop again while the weather is so cold.
It’s a strange situation that I find myself in. For the last 25 years I’ve always had a workshop to call my own but for the last few months I’ve been a little lost without one. My local Men’s Shed was a godsend as it meant I could still feel like I was doing something useful but producing anything meaningful without having my own tools and machinery on hand is very challenging.
When the weather starts to warm up I’m looking to organise my own workshop again and I’ll be back at the bench in my old familiar surroundings with the tools I love. Until then I’m just “tinkering” but learning to enjoy it and I’ve found a new outlet for my skills my teaching some of the folks at the Men’s Shed which I’m finding very rewarding.
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