What have
you got (apart from photographs) that you have had for years?
I thought
about this today. I don’t have any childhood teddy bears or books, they all
went with one of my parents many loft clear outs.
I don’t have
things like the key ring from my first car, or any keepsakes from former
lovers. I don’t have any of my old guitars, or the microphones that I used.
I have lost
more decent sets of screwdrivers and spanners by loaning them out than I will
ever care to admit.
I seem to
have lost my first wedding ring, and with the exception of my current wedding
ring most other jewellery that I have been given over the years.
When I
really think about it the only thing that I seem to have had for a long time is
a palette knife that I bought when I was doing my city & guilds bakery course
back in the early 80’s.
How strange
that this one item seems to have attached itself to me when everything else has
gone, 6 inches of flat shiny steel and a wooden handle, and for the last 20
years it has not seen the dangerous side of a cake.
I have used
it to spread potato over a Shepherd’s pie, fill small holes in the wall with
polyfilla, flip eggs, pancakes or potato cakes and it is very good for removing
candle wax from table tops.
It truly is
a useful little item, but not one that I really planned to have with me all
this time, and yet because it is the one thing that has been with me through
the whole of my adult life I often look at it in wonder when I remove it from
the drawer (before using it to separate the pages of a wet book or something
similar) and I think that this little item has been with me for so long.
It is the
one thing that I own that I actually get sentimental about, it is 28 years old
now and still as functional as it ever was, probably more functional and
diverse than it was ever planned to be.
I was
recently asked for an idea for a wedding present, I couldn’t think at the time
but in future if asked or if in the situation I will say to buy the happy couple
a good quality carving knife.
A real high
quality knife.
One of
these knifes that costs a lot of money..
They may
not get it at first, but after 20 years when they have used it to cut their first
carpet to size, slice up old curtains and perhaps even used it to carve some
meat they will one day hold it and realise that this is an item that has been
with them for many years, and it is still as functional as it ever was.
Items like
this used to be given as presents, and they were often so good that they were
passed down through generations. A much nicer idea than a microwave or a dvd
player or a set of bedside lamps.
As with
everyone else, I am not sure what my future holds, but I think that with the
aid of my trusty palette knife I can face it head on and if nothing else I can
smooth the way forward.