Old Tom

Old Tom was a country man, he might even have described himself as a country boy; when I met him he was old, or seemed to be to me but maybe he was only in his seventies. He lived with friends of ours and had done for many, many years. I am not sure how it happened… maybe they had lodged with him and when he became widowed they found a house to live together where they could bring up their family.

Tom could turn his hand to anything; he had an allotment which kept the family fed, he could do any job around the house including building, plastering, roofing, decorating, making things. He knew everything about life in the country, wild fruit, fungi and mushrooms, plants and birds and animals. No doubt he knew how to catch a rabbit or shoot a crow or get rid of vermin, no doubt he could name every plant, bird and tree in the county.

He was a quietly spoken man with a wonderful Somerset accent, but he loved to talk, so whenever I visited I was always eager to talk to him and hear his stories. I can’t remember them now but I was entranced. I was in my twenties and if only I had been more widely interested in writing I would have written them down, how I wish I had!

He could turn his hand to anything, and when the family moved into the country he put an extension on the house, rebuilt the bathroom and kitchen, set up a kitchen garden, trained the wild roses, cultivated more flowers and shrubs. He would not waste anything and would often come home with bits and pieces of stuff which he would make into something. I got the feeling that things he made were not always appreciated, but with a family living in a small (but beautiful) cottage, there wasn’t a lot of room.

Such an item is his G-Plan table. He came across a catalogue for the furniture company, G-Plan and was horrified at how much their pieces cost; an interest was expressed in a round, elegant glass-topped table.

“Huh, I could make that!” Tom snorted and retreated to his workshop where he found an old teak bedstead he had brought home because it was decent timber.

There was much banging and constructing from the workshop, then a large piece of glass was bought which Tom cut to size himself to make sure it fitted and then, there it was, a G-Plan style glass-topped table, made by Tom. Sadly the family had no room for it, it was bigger than they had expected room the picture in the catalogue, and anyway, they’d only liked the look of it, they didn’t actually want it! My parents though it was wonderful, elegant and graceful. My dad also loved wood, and no doubt loved the teak from which it was so beautifully constructed and finished. Typical Tom, he gave it to my parents.

Tom must have died more than thirty years ago, but we still have the table, in our sitting room where there is plenty of space for it to sit elegantly.