There’s a pleasant trend sweeping Melbourne, and I’m glad it came back during my uni years. I had a lot of time on my hands- not a lot of contact hours- and I wanted to spend them doing more than just drinking and clubbing. No time for any of that stuff anyway, never mind the peer pressure.
And suddenly it seems like there are a thousand clubs all bringing back a practical art that people have forgotten, what with machines doing all the work. I could’ve chosen Open Fire Meat Roasting, or maybe Advanced River Clothes Washing. Flat Stone Bread Making seemed fun, but for some reason, Net Making just appealed to me.
Our teacher works at a local tennis club, where amongst other things he mends the holes in the tennis nets made by angry players flinging around their rackets. He’s been doing it for so long, and now he’s basically a master, so he applied to become a teacher. I’ve got to say, this has to be THE most therapeutic thing I’ve ever done. We’re not going to put people who makes sports netting in 2018 out of business, or anything…we’re way too slow. It’s more just a time when we can come together, chat about stuff and learn an ancient art that was otherwise in danger of being forgotten.
‘Course, I’d be pretty happy with making tennis and cricket nets and the like. I think we might move onto them, but right now we’re weaving fishing nets, and those things are a nightmare. I still don’t have the appropriate finger calluses, so I come back from every class aching. Still…it’s relaxing. SO relaxing, just sitting there and weaving nets for no real purpose.
That’s part of the reason I want to move onto making sports netting. Maybe I could fix the cricket nets at our local park, since the council refuses to. But as opposed to going out clubbing or whatever? This is way better.
-Arienne