Mitre 10

One Man's Web > Where I Live > Mitre 10
Posted 9-04-2004

Henry says Howdy when I come in. And I say "Good thanks," and wander over to the tie wire. As I come back I hear Shane at the counter say, "Well, you could do it now, if you stopped sticking labels on tent pegs!" 

Henry is using a label gun on tent pegs so big they look like they would be useful in a show like Buffy. The labels don't stick that well, so he is making sure they stay put by running a piece of sticky tape around each one. I say to Shane, "But all his life Henry's dreamed of being able to stick labels on tent pegs!" 
And Shane says, "Yeah, and when I own this business, that's all I want to do, too."

Henry the owner comes over with a handful of pegs. "Are you two talking about me?" he asks, mock angry. 
"I'm just telling Shane here how you always wanted to do tent peg labels," I say, all innocent. "How it's been a life dream."

Henry grins. "It's surprisingly therapeutic," he says. "People often say to me, 'How come you're sweeping the floors?'" He shows me his hands, stained with rust dust. "But it's good to do something physical and not be worrying about budgets and prices and mark-ups. It's like a rest and relief for the brain."

"Yeah," I nod. "Like me pruning the grapes at home... or building that cat cage." 
Henry grins. I bought so much steel and so many bits from him for that cage, he reckons my daughter's cat house must be "the Taj Mahal of all cat cages."

Henry is right about therapeutic. It's sad to see a bloke who is so keen on being successful that he can't any longer get his hands dirty, because it's beneath him, or he's simply forgotten the joy of hard physical work. Success is not about money and possessions. It's about being able to enjoy life. And that means not only running a profitable hardware store like Henry's Mitre 10, but being able to enjoy the simple things about it.

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