I love learning and trying new skills. I was reading about Phil Collins the other day, how he joined Genesis aged 20 or so, learned new skills; acting, then singing, touring, solo albums... I realised that in music I've had to write and record my music, playing all of the instruments myself, programming the sequencing software and designing the synthesizers and all of the audio effects, building the studio, learning mixing and production, performing live including booking and promoting the events (designing the posters, setting up and sound checking, greeting the audience, taking tickets etc.) designing all of the album artwork, directing, filming and editing the music videos, founding the record company, publishing the music, registering the work with the relevant authorities, etc.
I love trying different things, and the above is only one example... in painting I've had to learn countless skills from oil painting to woodworking, glass cutting, gilding, wood carving, plaster casting etc. etc. In house building I've needed to plaster a wall once - this was difficult but enjoyable because it was a challenge. No skill is particularly harder than any other although all are difficult at first. Is playing the piano harder than carving and gilding a picture frame? Is cutting stained glass harder than plastering a wall? All become easier with repeated practice. I'll never be a world champion tennis player, I'm too short, but occasional examples like that aside, I strongly believe that almost any skill can be mastered by anyone.
Today I needed to brick up the hole in my wall where the fire used to be. This was tricky because the hole was a very strange shape, with fragments of old bricks and shattered halves at each side. The old bricks (nearly 100 years old) were a bit bigger and heavier than current bricks. The height space also involved an awkward half-brick which was impossible to cut so we decided on wood, not strong, but it will fill the gap. First step, cutting the bricks into bits to see what would fit:
Then a quick YouTube glance on how to do it - YouTube is a fantastic resource! And some laying later:
The key part is getting everything level... the gaps between the bricks are a bit haphazard, mainly because they had to fit into the pattern of the old larger bricks which sometimes had huge blocks of mortar set in there. In no way would this wall hold up against strain, it's a matter of sealing the hole, that's all; but that's fine as it's been a hole since, in all likelihood, the house was built. There doesn't seem to be any sort of lintel or bar above the hole as there would (I imagine) need to be nowadays, but hey ho, the result should be strong enough. The next step will be the plaster which will be a mix of plasterboard cut to an abstract shape and wet plaster for the gaps. It won't be perfect, but hopefully good enough.
