Once, skills like polishing shoes or planting an apple tree were handed down father to son. Now, Gen X and Y wear sneakers and decorate their apartments with potted yukkas. But some grandads are determined their knowledge won't be lost.
Aahh, the meditative power of painting a house.
Jack Warren, 76, feels it whenever he reaches for his brush and his tin. All he needs is a wall or some weatherboard, and he will ask for nothing more.
"You can set a radio on, sit on a plank and just paint away," says Warren, a retired Wellington builder.
"It's relaxing [compared with] what I was doing before. At least it's peaceful - not like building, when you're sawing things, hammering things."
There is no room for the intrusion of modern-day matters such as metrification in Warren's world. His brush is a four-inch brush; the weatherboard is six-inch.
And he's a stickler for quality. Buy a good brush, exhorts Warren. And remember technique is important. "You've got to brush it out and spread your paint. Some people just splish-splosh." (And that's no good at all.)
Warren grew up when people "made do" with whatever was at hand - and they turned their hand to whatever they could, in the interest of cost and convenience. So did Neville Barker, a former publican, who now delights in brewing his own beer.
Like Warren, Barker doesn't just derive pleasure from his pastime; he also likes the savings he makes. Barker and his wife Dawn ran pubs in Dunedin until they retired. That's when he started making home brew.
Now greenkeeper at the Macandrew Bay Bowling Club, Barker is big on both home-made lager and a dark beer.
"I make the lager for the wife and myself - and then I make the dark blend, which is very black; it's a mild stout."
Barker accedes to modernity in he'll start with a supermarket home-brewing kit. It's too much fuss and bother to be messing around with boiling hops in barrels, he says.
His brews have an alcohol rating of about 4.5 per cent - more than double his preferred tipple at his local, where he's a fan of the low-alcohol beer.
Barker's brew is made with malt - not sugar. This way, it's more palatable.
The wisdom and whimsy of Barker, Warren and a cast of others is included in a book that imparts the knowledge of the past to a younger, faster, greedier generation. Tips From Your Grandad is written by Wellingtonian Robyn Paterson. It's a sequel to her book Tips From Your Nana and continues the theme of retro-cool in an informative sense.
All the stuff you should have known how to do and never did is in there - from catching a fish, to sewing on a button, to making wooden blocks for your baby.
The practical is interspersed with the why-bother (who needs to do a clove hitch knot?) and includes a good section on growing great fruit - regardless of whether you've got a section or patio pots - by Mathew Singleton of Whangarei.
Paterson, who is in her 30s, wrote the book for Generations X and Y. "We're turning back to the practical skills of days gone by," she says.
"The recession and the necessity of saving money; much more awareness of the environment and what we're exposed to - and wanting to do something the old-fashioned way has become a point of difference."
The book is tailored at urbanites. Paterson, who is one herself, has put every mentioned piece to personal test.
Her favourite? "Smoking fish. It's remarkably simple and so satisfying."
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STRETCHING THINGS OUT PART OF EVERYDAY LIFE
When Kevin Lethbridge was growing up after the war, material goods were difficult to come by. Making things last as long as possible was part of daily life. People of Lethbridge's generation find it hard to fathom the way we so often treat products as disposable these days, especially now that many items are made cheaply and money is more readily available.
For a lot of us, though, money doesn't flow out of the wall machine quite as easily as it used to. And on top of that, we're beginning to realise that the making-then-trashing pattern can't be sustained forever.
Though Lethbridge, 65, claims the knowledge he has to offer "is just plain common sense", it's valuable advice. Lethbridge works in a Wellington shoe repair business, a trade which he watched his father and brother-in-law enter before him.
Like many of his era Lethbridge is from a large family, but because he was the only boy he escaped the hand-me-downs relegated to his sisters. New shoes were a sought-after treasure, and Lethbridge learned to care for them assiduously.
To this day he owns a pair of dancing shoes that he bought as a young man nearly 50 years ago, which amazingly still have their original heel and sole.
Lethbridge says: Buy quality and take care of it, it'll last you a lifetime.
Choosing shoes
It probably won't surprise you to know that cheap shoes don't last. They're designed to be disposable so that you'll move on and buy the next pair. Most won't have a chance to wear out before they either lose a heel or tear down the seams - Lethbridge sees plenty of these in his line of work.
High-quality shoes made from fine materials with good workmanship might cost more, but according to Lethbridge they will save you money in the end.
He rarely sees such shoes across his counter other than for preventive maintenance. Also, well-made shoes are usually more comfortable and are always healthier for your feet. More to the point - because let's face it this is what we're all thinking about - they look better.
These are Lethbridge's top tips for shoe selection:
* Leather is a fabric that has proven its durability over countless generations, and its breathability keeps your feet healthy (and less smelly!).
* Black is a classic colour that doesn't date and works with most outfits. If you're buying an expensive pair of shoes, it's a safe bet.
* If your shoes have leather soles, it's a good idea to have a thin rubber sole applied over the top. This will take the wear, is non-slip, and is much easier to replace later than the whole leather sole.
* A note for ladies - or anyone else considering high heels ... Think carefully before you buy stilettos. Walk around as much as possible wearing them when you're choosing, to make sure you're comfortable with the height - because contrary to popular belief heels can't be lowered.
Caring for shoes
* Always undo laces before taking off your shoes and putting them back on. This sounds like my mother talking, but Lethbridge reckons as many adults do this as kids, and it wrecks the back of the shoe.
* Guys - try to have at least two pairs of shoes and alternate between them. This gives your shoes time to dry out because feet do sweat and over time this causes the inside of a shoe to rot.
* Don't try to dry wet shoes too quickly. If you get caught in the rain, put scrunched up newspaper into your shoes to draw the moisture out and leave them to dry naturally. Keep replacing the newspaper until your shoes are dry. Don't put them in front of the heater. This will dry them out too fast and can crack the leather.
Polishing your shoesPolish up shoes once a week if you wear them regularly, otherwise once a month will suffice for your "occasion" shoes.
Ingredients: shoe cream (colour of your shoes or neutral); shoe brush; soft cloth (or old pantyhose).
1. Wipe away any dust or dirt using a damp cloth. Make sure the heel and sole are clean too.
2. Keeping one of your hands inside the shoe to maintain its shape, use one end of the shoe brush to apply the cream to your shoe.
3. Use the other end of the brush to give your shoe a good initial buff.
4. Finish off with a vigorous buff. This will bring up the shine and have them looking like new.
