Wood Shed

I have been doing alot of things for my mum recently. Mainly fixing, mending type of things: repairing gutters, replacing roof slates and tiles; re-wiring electrics; un-blocking drains and so on. It is a bit like painting the Forth Bridge except without so much sense of completion.

I have however been getting on top of a few things. Repairing things 'in time' in order to save a bigger job later. Bitumining tin roofs, cutting down old trees, etc. The most satisfying of which however was stocking the woodshed for winter.


cold winter = roaring log fire.













It is probably a man thing but there is something that feels soooo good about knowing that you are prepared for the winter months. I guess it is probably a base human need, woven into our genetic make-up. In times gone by if you didn't have a fire over winter, you didn't survive. Hence anybody who didn't have the desire to collect fire-wood or indeed couldn't be bothered didn't bother renewing their annual subscriptions. At some point one of my ancestors mutated a gene that made him(i'm sure it was a him and not a her) especially pleased to cut and chop wood. It lives on strong. It certainly gives me a deep feeling of satisfaction.

As an aside, Tim said to me that wood fires warm you three times. When you chop the logs, when you split them and finally when you build a fire.