Fortress of Solitude

Every man needs his space, his area, his fortress of solitude.  It could be a garden shed, the toilet, his car, but it must be somewhere, preferably with a beer fridge.  My shed alas is to small, we only have one toilet and there is always a visit from a child to say "hello" so that is out, and the car belongs to my better half.  For me it is the far wall and a half of my garage.  This is my place, my mess and everybody else better keep clear.  This is my wood working area, and this week it shrank.

Shortly we will be selling our castle, and moving into bigger and better things, so sacrifices have to be made to make the house attractive.  This week it was the garages turn for a spruce up, and as most normal people don't keep wood lathes and a small forest within it, it had to look more user friendly (apparently you should be able to fit two cars in there).  This was a great chance to tidy the area, remove the 2cm bits of wood I had hung on to, just in case they were needed.  Tools that had sat idle for years were boxed up (so I will probably need them next week).  I have tried to bring it back to the bare essentials, a wood lathe, a drill press, band saw and toolbox (plus some wood and pen blanks, polishing supplies, stereo and beer fridge).

Three days later, 160Kg of rubbish deposited at the tip, a boot load of boxes placed in storage and it was done.  The garage looked clean, well until I started turning a friends birthday present.  It certainly looked bigger, the car fit easily and I felt lighter.  Although it does not feel the same, my fortress had taken several morphisications to feel right, it still feels usable (and that is the important bit!)  Gone is the clutter and dread of having to rummage for things and upsetting spiders in the process.  Now I can move and be creative, whilst hiding from the family and allowing sanity to return. 

Now I must keep it clean and tidy and dream of the new house, with bigger garage that I can create a new fortress of my own, and fill with a newer, bigger assortment of toys.