Chapel Violins: Day 10 (My Final Day)

What an amazing day. John is such an exceptional person.

Today I met John at 8am and we went to the International Antiques Fair, held every other month here in Newark.

When we arrived, I felt at though I could have bumped into Tim Wonnacut at any time! In fact, the TV show 'Bargain Hunt' is often filmed at Newark.

 

 

My mission was to find a dentist mirror and a chisel to sharpen. John and I spent about four hours at the Bargain Hunt set, and found many treasures and very interesting artifacts, some of which were quite worthy of a blush or two!

To cut a long story short, I happened to find my dentist mirror, a chisel and a couple of other goodies. I literally found the mirror on the stall which was the last one out of about 300. These fairs are HUGE. John found a violin to restore and I pointed out something which I thought he might find interesting. He ended up buying the item of interest, which is a lovely picture as seen below. We could not quite work out what it is made from, but suspect it is gold painted glass or enamel on a copper base.

 

We returned back to the Chapel and were joined by Marcus, aca Harry. There were several laughs, which I am sure John timed right when I had a mouthful of coffee. It took me a while to recover from having to spit my coffee back into my cup to stop me from choking.

I worked on sharpening my chisel on a diamond stone, which is not cheap. There are three grades of stone to work through to get the chisel to the correct place. This requires several hours of work, something that I did not achieve in the few hour I had in the afternoon at the Chapel. My chisel is on its way to being appropriately sharpened, but will still need about three hours work. John's aim for me was for me to get the method correct, and he was happy to stay back for as long as it took for this to come true.

 

Marcus left at about 6:30 pm, bidding me a good farewell and John and I left for the corner pub at about 7:30 to have an Irish Coffee as a farewell drink. Before we left, I tidied my desk and etched my initials into it's sacred timber (with John's permission of course). There was one more thing that I felt I needed to do, and that was to play Eugene's violin for one last time. It felt like sacred moment, fixed in my work corner, fully absorbing myself and putting a closure to the amazing fortnight I had spent in the Chapel. I left a note for Eugene to let him know of my last, necessary duty.

 

The whole time that I have spent with John has been wonderful. His teaching is thoughtful and he brings out he best in people. The stories he has told me along my journey thus far have really made me realize that he considers his student as whole person, and is mindful of their hunger for knowledge as well as their wellbeing.

 

John and I bade each other farewell on the corner of the road where the pub, Church and Main Road, both respectful of each other. John told me the Chapel would be a quiet place without me and that he had enjoyed the past two weeks. He also told me that I was one of the quickest learners that he had come across, and that it was up to me if I would become one of the best repairers in Australia. He predicts that it won't be long before I am working on more expensive instruments.

 

 

My journey back to the Vicarage was a little solemn, but I was looking forward to spending a bit of time with the people who should have been featured more often in my blog. Linda has been a wonderful host and tireless wrker in her B&B. I cannot recommend any where else to stay in this area. She provides not only clean and comfortable accommodation, but is always a friendly face and someone to talk to if needed. Linda genuinely cares about everyone who stays here.

 

I was fortunate to spend time with Linda's brother and his wife whilst Linda and Tony went to pick up anothe family member from the airport. That have a very busy weekend with a wedding tomorrow and a Baptism on Sunday.

 

All such lovely people who will always hold a special place in my heart.

 

I will close by saying that as much as I have enjoyed the people that I have spent the past three weeks with, I am looking forward to returning home to my family. I hope that they have missed me as much as I have missed them.

I will catch the 9:19am train from Newark Northgate Railway station tomorrow morning, which will herald the beginning of my journey back to my true beloveds.

 

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