my shed

Brian Woodlands is semi-retired now but in his shed in south Australia he can proudly show off the samples from his joinery trade, the machines that supported his livelihood, the dozens of wood samples he collects, his antique hand tools and the rustic shed where “I have done some big stuff in this small workshop over the years.”
While the wind can come visiting through the spaces in the walls and open door, there is a cosy fire in an inner-room of the old-style country building and yarns aplenty to warm up the shed with an animated atmosphere.
“I was born here in the Adelaide Hills. My grandparents lived here in this district pre-war [World War Two] and my mother and father lived in the wattle-and-daub cottage over the road,” Brian says.
“In 1968, I took up an apprenticeship as a carpenter and joiner when I was 14 years old. I was not that rapt in school. As an apprentice you had to sacrifice wages to train but by time you were 18 or 19 it was good money. Today, apprentices start too late because they turn to the money first and it’s better early to be working at McDonald’s.”