I'VE always felt like a potential path in life was blocked off to me when, at the age of 12, I failed to get into both the wood work and metal work classes in secondary school.
Instead I got into Technical Drawing and Music, and although my music and architecture careers are going just terrific, I've never been able to shake the feeling that a portion of my manhood was snatched away from me at that young age.
And while my hands have gone from girly keyboard dancers to lawnmower-pushing shovel-paws in the last year, they are still incapable of creating anything that you can hold in...well...in your hands. Hopefully that's all about to change though.
My period of unemployment is about to end this week with my first foray into the world of construction. My new boss has said he will teach me everything there is to know about building houses.
He was left in no doubt that there would much to teach after my saying that I would need to Google all of the tools he told me to buy as I was not familiar with any of them.
After consulting trusty old Google, I got myself a set of tools and a pouch with which to hold them all. The tool belt in particular has gotten me very excited as I can't avoid the feeling of wearing Batman's utility belt when its on. The Batman feel is replaced by a decidedly less cool Bob the Builder image once I don the yellow hard hat though.
My friends who have already worked in construction assure me that the next few weeks of my life will be spent with a shovel and nothing else in my hand but their pessimism can't dull my enthusiasm.
I'm about to become a real man that makes houses out of bricks and wood and whatever other products it is they use to build stuff.
5 comments:
And here was me thinking you'd finally got the leg over! :¬)
Remember Hogey: righty-tighty lefty-loosey; always close your eyes when blowing dust out of a hole
I know at least two Joe McKennas that are absolutely disgusted you learned nothing about hardware in the time you spent working in our hardware shop.
In fairness I did learn a bit. I learned that when someone asks if we have a 'Genny' they are not asking if there is a 'Jenny' on staff they are in fact looking for a Generator.
Also I became quite adept at doing BMX wheelies and leaving equipment on the back of a truck while I go for lunch!
My mate from Cork, on his first day on the sites in Sydeny, was the first man there before 6am one Monday and wasa as eager and as ready as he was ever going to be. the boss, suitably impressed, told to go and get himself a shovel out of the shed for himself.
Off, then, he went with his boss's set of keys. Unfortunatley, the key snapped in the lock and he couldn't get it out. So, nobody on the whole site could get their stuff out of the shed.
The boss, needless to say, was rather pissed off.
However, that was only a mere prelude to his pissed-offedness when he discovered the key that was broken in the lock was in fact, his house key!
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