My day in cups of tea
WE ASKED COPPER PIPING PRO PAUL KNOWLES TO DESCRIBE HIS DAY IN CUPPAS
What are mornings like round your place?
I’m up at 7am to do packed lunches over a mug of green tea, although it’s not a sit-down cuppa. After the school run, I might pop into the village store and join a few of the other parents for a quick cup of lemon and ginger tea and a catch-up.
Delightful. Presumably it’s now time for work?
I rethought my working life after a health crisis and now design and build household items out of copper piping, such as towel rails, candle holders and wall lights. I head to my workshop in our garden and start making. The heated towel rails, especially, take time to make and test, requiring a lot of careful soldering.
What do you do to take a break from work?
I’ll often have a cuppa on the deck, taking in the views and trying not to notice how long the grass has got! Phyllis, our hen, likes to follow me around, so she’ll often join me.
Back to work. What are you up to now?
In the afternoon, I’ll work on the finishes, cleaning the copper with wire wool and, if requested, spraying with lacquer to prevent tarnishing, before packing and posting orders. Once that’s done, I’ll work on designs and catch up with paperwork. I take a short break mid-afternoon, when I cycle to collect our youngest, Ruby, from school.
And what happens on an evening?
When everyone’s home from school and work, we have a cuppa together and catch up on our days – particularly nice when our eldest, Meg, is home from uni and we’re the full quota again.
What’s your last cuppa of the day?
It’s usually a blend of camomile, lemon balm and lavender, often brewed by my son Harvey, before we sit down to some TV – we’re currently into American sitcom