In my youth I have had many opportunities and
many I picked up. One of them was my study as a constructional engineer. I
passed for the degrees of constructor as well as architect. Until 1982 I worked
for a company building a huge housing project in Noordwijkerhout (The
Netherlands) and for Ballast Nedam in Saudi Arabia. After that I went to the
Fire Service College and I worked for over 30 years in the (inter) national
world of safety, crisis and disasters.
After more than 7 years in Thailand it started
to ‘itch’ again. Fortunately, I have two right hands. I am grateful that I am
still strong and healthy to this day.
I just wanted to build something again here in
Thailand. A small private project that is certainly not common for Thailand. My
two children reacted spontaneously and my girlfriend no less. So… I started.
It is actually very inspiring to see your mind
suddenly starts to think in a different, former, direction again. And the
experience that everything, really everything, is still stored in that mind and
that it is not even a matter of blowing off the dust, surprised me the most.
Structures, construction types, details, possibilities and impossibilities.
They all come back in detail. The experiences from Saudi Arabia, especially in
relation to the climate, are doing well here.
It actually all works a little bit addicting.
Your mind keeps thinking and looking for, sometimes even very creative,
solutions. By the way, absolutely not under any pressure. It is now a
professional hobby and for my/our own use. Really super fun to do.
I still remember how during my studies my
father sometimes in the middle of the night came to my room after he visited
the bathroom. Light in my room was still on and he asked me if I still did not
sleep. No, I was drawing.
Sometimes I suddenly got inspiration or an idea
in relation to my graduation project and with the large drawing table in my
room I worked that out that night. It gave me energy and after I finished, I
could sleep. I now have those experiences and that feeling again.
And yes, that is the only thing I have
encountered so far. Drawing with the Rotring pen on a so-called "Chalk”
nowadays is almost impossible. And with more than 37 years out of this
profession, I have to refresh my former drawing skills. Making drawings now on
the computer with a so-called CAD program.
YouTube, where would we be without YouTube,
offered and offers advice. And that too is a super fun experience. To learn by
doing. And old-fashioned scratching a wrong line of your paper with a razor
blade now is a piece of cake.
Sitting still? No, not for me. It is great to
fresh up my old profession and to do something with it again in practice. This
former study pays back double.
The
prospect of start building myself and with my own hands in a while, and all the
preparations for this right now, give a blissful energy and keep my mind
creative and young.
Frans Captijn
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