One cousin has bought a 70's camper van. Its very primitive with no power steering and a carb fed 2 liter engine from the ark I expect. He is enjoying fitting various thing to it and making improvements. His brother has also bought an out of character purchase, an old turbo Audi. Again he has enjoyed tinkering with it after work. He normally buys flash expensive vehicles though. His wife is also acting out of character as she is sanding and painting a second hand table that she bought for £20 as opposed to £800 new as she normally would do. Now that did amuse me. Almost as much as me on a bike did to her !
Its been a terrible year for them as well, and I think its very therapeutic to tinker with something that you normally would have just laughed at once. Getting out of a rut and relieving stress seems to involve these kinds of activity in our family now. Its a common denominator with those of my age. And maybe thats the key, age. A kind of good mid-life crisis ?
My father often worked with 70's vans. I remember one van had been used by scuba divers so it was full of rust. That man was a genius with fixing up vehicles. I don't have any talent with that, or rather, I haven't had enough money to pursue such things so I don't even know if I have the talen for it.
ReplyDeleteHaving hobbies like this is really good. This is what normal people used to do before the internet.
Case in point, I was involved with a millennial a few years younger than I am, and he didn't even know how to change the oil in his car. He ruined his first car I believe, by never checking the oil and other things. Not having a father around was a detriment to him, and many others of that age group, even if some of the older millennials are actually not that much younger than we are.
Cooking seems to be making a comeback with children. I never saw that coming. Maybe times go in a full circle if we wait long enough ?
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