‘Back in the day’ an essential part of dating involved making a compilation tape. Sharing your music I guess explained in part who you were. Although I think in the 80’s we all listened to pretty much everything in the charts. Flash backs to lying on my belly on a Sunday night recording the top 30 countdown. It was a big deal.

So excuse me if I share a few lyrics with you. This is a song I only ever heard performed live once. Juliet Turner sang ‘Broken Things’ at the Omagh memorial service, it was written by Julie Mills in 1993.

Broken Things

“You can have my heart if you don’t mind broken things,

You can have my heart, if you don’t mind tears,

Because I heard that you make old things new,

So I give these pieces all to you,

If you want it you can have my heart”

If you get the opportunity to listen to Juliet’s rendition, it was stunning. An awareness of brokenness, but also hopeful.

Wabi Sabi is the beauty of imperfect things. In a world where value is placed on symmetry and perfection, I am happy to be ensconced in the Wabi Sabi camp. An appreciation that as objects age they acquire a special beauty and charm.

Which leads me to tell you about the object I have owned since I was 4. A very 1970’s mug with an orange lion on it. Orange was very ‘in’ back in the 70’s (brown was also in, oh and turquoise). So this mug and I have been together for over half a century and have a lot of history.

When The Highland Weigh opened I made the grave mistake of taking it to work as my work coffee mug. Within just a few weeks, the handle fell off. And well, I was pretty upset. Luckily a couple of years ago I’d learnt the basics of what is a very skilled craft. Kintsugi: a craft that appreciates the beauty of broken things and enhances the cracks and chips with gold. Poetically translated as ‘golden joinery’. Instead of hiding or disguising a repair, Kintsugi emphasises its fractures. A metaphor for us all maybe.

And so, my lion mug underwent a rather golden repair. It won’t hold tea anymore. Instead its enjoying its retirement with a little succulent placed inside.

In April The Highland Weigh hosted a visible mending workshop … Kintsugi for clothes I suppose! A lovely event repairing much loved but worn jeans, t-shirts and so on.

Come the Autumn I propose we get together for a little pottery/ceramic Kintsugi. Why not save your ‘broken things’ and join me in the Wabi Sabi camp.