The current spell of fine weather, combined with the enforced lack of other activities outside the house, has resulted in my making good progress with tasks in the house and garden. This morning I decided that the door of the garden shed needed some attention. It was beginning to develop a layer of green mould, and needed another layer of creosote. As I approached the end of the task my memory dwelt on the door’s origin. I made it!
The lean-to that now serves as a garden shed was at one time the outside toilet. (Remember that our house is more than 200 years old, and that is how it was then.) We had a stone-mason reconstruct it shortly after we moved into the place–perhaps twenty years ago. I decided that rather than pay somebody to do a job I could do myself, I made the door and window. It has stood the test of time very well, and after repainting looks as good as new. That kind of skill is something of which I am quite proud, but it is important to me in other respect.
When I was in the senior forms at grammar school we were all obliged, however academic our main subjects of study, to follow one course in a practical manual skill. We had a choice of woodwork or metalwork. I chose the former, and there is still a set of bookshelves outside our bedroom that I made that year. I have always valued that experience, because apart from its utility it has left me with a continuing respect for people who exercise practical skills and work with their hands. There is absolutely no room in my world-view for any sense of the superiority of mental work over manual work. We all depend in crucial ways on the work of people with these kinds of skills.
During the current pandemic crisis it has occurred to me on more than one occasion that our continuing safety and the functioning of society depend absolutely on the contribution of people who are often looked down upon by others. Refuse collectors are a case in point. Social life would be impossible without them. Too often we hear it said to kids who are not doing too well at school that they will “end up stacking shelves at Tesco”.* During our current difficulties one of the aspects of life that is causing greatest concern is the continuing reliable functioning of the food supply. Supermarkets have been under the most enormous pressure to cope with the often unreasonable and inconsiderate behaviour of their customers. The people on the sharp end of this are often those stacking the shelves. Anybody who I hear using that kind of disparaging language in my hearing in the future will probably get an earful from me.
*Tesco is a large supermarket chain in the UK.