Weekly photo challenge … Broken

Broken was not a reason …

We live in a throw-away culture; items are discarded for a multitude of reasons and broken is not on the list.  Things are binned (recycled) when the wrong size, colour, shape and even usefulness is considered long before ‘it’ becomes broken.  

I come from a generation who finds this attitude abhorrent. My father made a living by salvaging items to build and repair boats.  Wood, metal, engine parts, nuts, bolts, canvas sails and even upholstery fabrics, found about, bartered for or bought for a nominal price, sometimes left by the incoming tide, were put to good use. This was not unusual but necessary. My mother made our clothes from hand-me-downs and made good, those in need of repair, Bed linen and curtains made from most unlikely sources. She was able concoct meals; not perhaps wholly nutritious,  but enough to fill our bellies from simple ingredients using a battered primus stove and salvaged utensils.

I,  of course am the last to blab on about the so called good old days … nor want to return to those days of rations and uncomfortable lack.

However, they have left an indelible mark, I am reluctant to throw away or discard items that have lost their usefulness or even broken. In fact I am likely to rescue unloved items from a skip or dustbin.  Some may call this shabby chic … perhaps merely shabby shabby but not not broken.