Topic: You never know when a skill given is returned to the giver

[piersdad]

       Those were the days of youth we had a swamp at the back of our place it was the sort of no mans land in the centre of the block.
No one really knew or cared about it.
It probably belonged to the drafting and math’s teacher I had at school.
He was a shed person and his shed was that Aladdin’s cave of wonderful bits and tools.
I remember he was building a boat there and his son peter   father and son had the first   home made motor scooter.
The shed was that magical place to me where all sorts of wonderful projects came out of.
Finally I landed in his drawing class and he was one of those people that were strict
(I never knew his first name) and they taught so well that nearly every thing he said remained in memory for ever.
One of the most memorable lessons he gave us was just before the school exams.
It was on exam technique.
He said “If you have 10 questions and you need to answer 6 to get full marks then for goodness sake choose the 3 easiest and do them well. 
   Then you only have 7 more to answer to get over the 50% pass.
Then he went on.
    Take 5 pencils to the exam each carefully sharpened and as they get blunt then toss then aside and pick up a perfectly sharpened one.
Use 2- 30 degree set squares so that when drawing a isometric drawing you don’t have to turn the square over all the time.
    Find out when you are your best during the day.
If you feel really refreshed after a chicken dinner and your exam is in the morning then get up really early and have a snack of chicken and a rest,  so that by the time you are in the exam, you are raring to go.
    Well over the years I did well and was never scared to tackle anything as his advice always was there to never be scared to tackle some thing big and scary as you can break it down to little portions and make sure you are prepared.

Eventually after designing and building an electric sports car and a electric truck and many other projects I got interested in violin making and here again my old teachers half hour lesson on exams gave me the confidence to tackle impossible tasks.
So for 55 years I always revered my teacher of old.

    Starting to retire I built a last masterpiece in the form of a double base.
The drafting skills of old helped me and it was no trouble to hand craft the beautiful winches of stainless steel and bronze.
    Even the back was a special ply wood that I ordered from a factory and made to my exact specifications.
So came the day I had to part with the beautiful instrument and a young man showed a lot of interest and when he tried it out he played it beautifully and made arrangements to purchase it.
When I found out his name I asked him if he was any relative of my old teacher of 50 years ago.
“Yes he is my grand dad”
Well you could have knocked me over with a feather,
Here the grand son of the person who was my inspiration to achieve over the years was to own my last masterpiece.
 Nothing could have delighted me more

so two generations  after a skill gifted to me 55 years ago is returned to the grand son of the giver with interest.


debt paid  with gratitude