Bassim
VIP Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2008
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Bosnian
- Home Country
- Bosnia Herzegovina
- Current Location
- Sweden
Would you please correct my short story, which has the form of a newspaper article.
THE REINVENTOR
Ben Thompson, an 80-year-old pensioner from Hastings, seems to have come on an original idea of how to pass his time. As I meet him in his cosy workshop in the leafy garden smelling of flowers and mowed grass, Ben tells me his story. “I started working when I was 13 in my father’s metalwork shop. I did simple work like drilling, cutting and filing pieces of metal, and then I learned to be a car mechanic. I worked for a few years until I became bored with broken cars and the smells of grease and oil. I took up woodworking and enjoyed making all kinds of furniture and the job was great, but I got tired of being indoors all the time and needed change. So I drove a bus until my retirement. When I stopped working, I didn’t know what to do with so much time on my hands. I never was a bingo fan and couldn’t imagine myself sitting for hours in a bingo hall, circling the numbers on a scorecard with a pen. Nor could I sit in a pub, downing pint after pint while chatting about sports, politics and other trivia.
“I didn’t know what to do with myself so I dug and redug in my garden and planted and replanted flowers and bushes, but that hadn’t put my mind at rest. I painted and repainted my home, but the feeling of restlessness wouldn’t go away. Someone told me long walks were what I needed, so I bought a pair of expensive hiking shoes and walked up and down the coast and in the hills until I was exhausted, but the only thing I got out of it were my swollen feet and blisters. My wife told me we should see the world before we grew old, so we made some trips abroad and went on cruises, but I hated to be a tourist and stroll like an idiot with a camera around my neck, taking pictures of interesting buildings and scenes. I would return from such trips emptier than I was before we went. I'm a practical man who needs to works with his hands, but the problem was where to find such a work.
“I started to panic when I suddenly saw a book called “Inventions through the centuries.” I borrowed it just out of curiosity, but when I sat in my workshop looking through it, an idea appeared in my mind that I could invent all those things again. The same afternoon, I sat at my table and invented the wheel. I can’t put into words how I felt. My heart thumped with pride and joy. I held the wheel in front my eyes as if it was a precious diamond, and I was satisfied with myself for the first time after months. Then after that, I invented the bicycle and the motorcycle, and I knew I had finally found what I needed. I was like a gambler on a winning streak.”
My eyes sweep over the workshop and I notice that every centimetre of it is filled with hundreds of Ben’s reinventions: the nail, compass, telescope, tyre, phonograph, camera radio, telephone and hundreds of others, which demonstrate the strong will and extraordinary skills of the old man. His face creases into a smile and his grey eyes sparkle as he shows me a little box in front of him. “This is the mechanical clock. I’ve been working on it for six months. It’s a difficult and exhausting work because it demands precision and patience, but when I finish it I’m going to feel so ecstatic that I'll not be able to sleep for days. Look around, all these objects are my children. I love them in the same way and they are all important to me. I couldn’t part with one of them without feeling pain.”
“Tea is ready!” Ben’s wife Lisa calls us from the house. I glance at him, expecting to give me a sign as what to do, but he says, “Please go and take some refreshments. My wife will keep you company.” I feel a little bit deflated because I planned to ask him more questions, but I don’t want to appear intrusive and go out, leaving him to his hobby. Before I close the door, I glance behind and see him bend over his desk, the wisps of his white hair blowing in the wind from the stand fan, which Ben has also reinvented.
TO BE CONTINUED
THE REINVENTOR
Ben Thompson, an 80-year-old pensioner from Hastings, seems to have come on an original idea of how to pass his time. As I meet him in his cosy workshop in the leafy garden smelling of flowers and mowed grass, Ben tells me his story. “I started working when I was 13 in my father’s metalwork shop. I did simple work like drilling, cutting and filing pieces of metal, and then I learned to be a car mechanic. I worked for a few years until I became bored with broken cars and the smells of grease and oil. I took up woodworking and enjoyed making all kinds of furniture and the job was great, but I got tired of being indoors all the time and needed change. So I drove a bus until my retirement. When I stopped working, I didn’t know what to do with so much time on my hands. I never was a bingo fan and couldn’t imagine myself sitting for hours in a bingo hall, circling the numbers on a scorecard with a pen. Nor could I sit in a pub, downing pint after pint while chatting about sports, politics and other trivia.
“I didn’t know what to do with myself so I dug and redug in my garden and planted and replanted flowers and bushes, but that hadn’t put my mind at rest. I painted and repainted my home, but the feeling of restlessness wouldn’t go away. Someone told me long walks were what I needed, so I bought a pair of expensive hiking shoes and walked up and down the coast and in the hills until I was exhausted, but the only thing I got out of it were my swollen feet and blisters. My wife told me we should see the world before we grew old, so we made some trips abroad and went on cruises, but I hated to be a tourist and stroll like an idiot with a camera around my neck, taking pictures of interesting buildings and scenes. I would return from such trips emptier than I was before we went. I'm a practical man who needs to works with his hands, but the problem was where to find such a work.
“I started to panic when I suddenly saw a book called “Inventions through the centuries.” I borrowed it just out of curiosity, but when I sat in my workshop looking through it, an idea appeared in my mind that I could invent all those things again. The same afternoon, I sat at my table and invented the wheel. I can’t put into words how I felt. My heart thumped with pride and joy. I held the wheel in front my eyes as if it was a precious diamond, and I was satisfied with myself for the first time after months. Then after that, I invented the bicycle and the motorcycle, and I knew I had finally found what I needed. I was like a gambler on a winning streak.”
My eyes sweep over the workshop and I notice that every centimetre of it is filled with hundreds of Ben’s reinventions: the nail, compass, telescope, tyre, phonograph, camera radio, telephone and hundreds of others, which demonstrate the strong will and extraordinary skills of the old man. His face creases into a smile and his grey eyes sparkle as he shows me a little box in front of him. “This is the mechanical clock. I’ve been working on it for six months. It’s a difficult and exhausting work because it demands precision and patience, but when I finish it I’m going to feel so ecstatic that I'll not be able to sleep for days. Look around, all these objects are my children. I love them in the same way and they are all important to me. I couldn’t part with one of them without feeling pain.”
“Tea is ready!” Ben’s wife Lisa calls us from the house. I glance at him, expecting to give me a sign as what to do, but he says, “Please go and take some refreshments. My wife will keep you company.” I feel a little bit deflated because I planned to ask him more questions, but I don’t want to appear intrusive and go out, leaving him to his hobby. Before I close the door, I glance behind and see him bend over his desk, the wisps of his white hair blowing in the wind from the stand fan, which Ben has also reinvented.
TO BE CONTINUED
Last edited:
