Cupboard

This is a terrible blurry picture of the north west corner of our front room. I snapped it a few minutes ago. It is also one of the narrow alcoves next to our chimney breast. When we moved into this house thirty five years ago, the corner was little more than wasted space because we could not find a suitable piece of furniture to go there.

Along came an old friend called Colin and he offered to make us a cupboard that would fit the space very nicely. Not only that but he would do the job at pretty much cost price. It was something like payback time because I had done him a big favour by looking after several thousand pounds for him. This followed  a house sale when his relationship broke down and he lost his job.

Colin came from Birmingham and he had left school at fifteen without qualifications. He was born eleven days before me in 1953 and when I first met him, he was a hospital porter here in Sheffield. He had followed his sweetheart here  when she began her nurse training and besides, he owed a West Indian cannabis dealer in Birmingham a wad of money. It was better to get away.

The one thing Colin had enjoyed at secondary school was woodwork. He had an aptitude for it and was passionate about several different types of wood commonly used in furniture making. He met a man who had his own workshop and was already receiving commissions and soon Colin was working alongside him - producing fine, handcrafted furniture  and achieving something good with his life even though the financial rewards were very modest.

Colin and I drifted apart after I finally gave back the last of his money. I can't quite remember the circumstances. Later, a mutual friend told me that he had been thinking about getting back to Birmingham. Maybe that is where he went.   He was a difficult bloke to be friends with anyway - often on the attack and burdened by the weight of his troublesome upbringing, his cannabis habit and  the painful end of his love if of course love ever really ends.

What I have just written is a sidetrack. Really, the point of this writing is to highlight the cupboard in the corner and to say that there is something in that cupboard that I intend to share with you in a forthcoming blogpost or two. 

What on earth could it be?