Tapping in

“Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.”

                                                                            G.K. Chesterton

We are busy renovating our 104 year old house. The main focus at this stage is the bathroom. At the time the house was originally built people didn’t have inside bathrooms. They had an outdoor toilet and they usually washed in their bedrooms using a pitcher of water and a bowl. From time to time they would carry a tub into the kitchen, heat water on the stove and take a bath. No easy process! 

That being the case you can see how, over time and with the development of indoor plumbing, they converted one of the bedrooms in this old house into a bathroom. For some reason or the other, they chose one of the larger rooms. The result was a ballroom sized bathroom with a toilet in the one corner, a bath in the other and a basin in the third corner. You almost crossed a time zone walking from bath to basin. It was not only wasted space but also very impractical. With the bathroom occupied by a single person, the rest of the house had to wait in line.

A total change was necessary, especially with the retreats here at Barrowfield in mind. By using drywalling and adding a shower, basin and another toilet we are transforming the old bathroom into a mini ablution block where four people at a time can use the facilities.

That is the plan on paper. Now it has to be executed. Which implies a lot of hard work done in stages and a juggling of time and priorities. Everything else on the farm that needs to be done can’t be neglected and we must still generate an income. Slowly but surely we are getting there.

Which brings me to the picture of the basin stand to be used in the new bathroom. Friends of ours renovated their kitchen and asked whether we would have any use for all the old Kiaat (a type of teak) kitchen units. We did not say no. From that stock we took one of the small wall units. By using a piece of off-cut Kiaat I had on my wood pile and wood from old Oregon floor boards I made legs and a base to gain height and lift the little cabinet from the ground. That same Oregon floor boards provided material for the top as well, which was cut out to accommodate the original basin.

Off-cuts, the discarded, the previously used, the old – call it the remnants and markings of tradition – all coming together in serving a new enterprise. I love the way woodworking often acts as choir master blending all these voices into a beautiful new song. Making me part of democracy in its widest sense.

George