Making Something out of Nothing

What a strange week this has been! With England going back into full lockdown, where I live in Scotland has gone down a tier (for now) and life doesn’t really feel any different – we still can’t see our friends in our homes but we can meet in our gardens and pubs and cafes, and the constant of the beach is always there for moments when everything just feels a bit too much (and we all have those moments right?!)

The news is full of the US election too and this has been interesting to talk about in our house because our youngest daughter is studying ancient history and it led to a conversation about how different the US system is to ours and the oddness (to us) of having an election that can be decided in court, and where the “winner” doesn’t take power until January unlike in the UK where it happens the next day. The US system I have learned, is based on the Roman system and I will dedicate a whole blog to that next week (I bet you can’t wait!)

We have also had some sadness in our family this week as we lost the family matriarch in my husbands grandmother at the start of the week. She was 98 and had lived an amazing life, leaving behind 13 great grandchildren which is wonderful, but however much you know something is coming, the reality of the fact always takes a bit of swallowing doesn’t it.

There have been many rainbows this week too and the biggest of these is something that was completed yesterday. This year marked our Silver Wedding Anniversary! 25 years of bliss (he definitely agrees with this…..) and rather than the big party and the African Safari we had planned, we celebrated with two of our children with dinner in the garden. However, it’s the gift my husband gave me that I’m talking about as being the rainbow! I have always loved my garden and always wanted a greenhouse. However, we have moved around with the military so much that we have never had the time to do anything about this especially given the windy site we live on where it’s not unusual in the winter to be battered by 80mph winds!!

This year, as an anniversary gift, my husband and my dad built me a greenhouse. It’s not just any greenhouse though because it is built from repurposed 15 pane glass doors that we got from either the tip (before lockdown) or Facebook marketplace!! During the summer, they lovingly sunk posts into the ground, built the framework and fitted the doors into place, and it was glorious. It was in this greenhouse, which we have named “Crystal Palace” that we celebrated our wedding anniversary and had dinner, it having been decorated with fairy lights and candles by our daughters!

Yesterday, dad and I built the shelving. In line with the repurposed nature of the building itself, this is made out of old wooden pallets. It was immensely satisfying. We need to remove the tops of the pallets, and cut bits down, and measure and cut posts and wooden supports – and we managed to do all of this from bits of wood we had lying around the garden as leftovers from other projects.

The pallet deconstruction itself was especially satisfying and this was because my dad has more tools than the average Screwfix shop – and anything he doesn’t have, my husband does!! Having the right tools for job made it so much easier and this struck a bit of a chord with me!

It occurred to me that many of us are going through the transition from “pallet to shelf” – both important in their own rights and essential to the jobs they are required to do, but both playing very different roles. Using the right tools, we can make the transition from being in the flight deck to doing something else. We just need to think about what we might be able to turn ourselves into, and make sure we have the right tools to do this whether it’s extra training, help with a CV, someone to paint a different picture of who we are and the skills we have.

I am still thinking about what I will be and what sort of “shelf” I might become, but I am lucky enough to have been given all the right tools by other people who have offered their support, and I sincerely hope that this is something that is happening for others too!

I hope this week, especially for those of you who are back in lockdown, you manage to find rainbows too. If you need me, I’ll be in Crystal Palace!