Dying Artform

I don’t often get calls. It isn’t because of a lack of advertising, I leave my business card with everyone I speak to. I try to meet with everyone who has ever used me in the past, and I print out fliers and call people cold. It isn’t a lack of trying I can assure you. It’s just that there isn’t the demand anymore for my kind of work. I don’t blame the legislation, or the architects, or even the people themselves who, individually and as a group made their choices. It’s just one of those things that change in life.

It’s been several decades since the fireplace was common in people’s homes. I’m one of the few who still have one, not just in my street, but in the whole city. I understand why people made their choices, other options are “better”, they’re quicker and more efficient, and they’re cleaner and require a lot less work. But I still maintain that nothing beats the feeling of the warmth that radiates from a roaring fireplace in the corner of your living room.

That’s what I told people when I went into the chimney sweeping game, all of those years ago. They laughed at me, nodded and agreed with my sentiment, but still laughed. It has always been hard for me to explain that I never expected to be rich doing this. It’s just what I feel I should be doing.

Obviously I do more than just sweep chimneys. If that were all I did with my days I’d be a very idle old man. No, as I said earlier, I work hard. I’ve expanded the business somewhat, there isn’t a fireplace need you could have that I don’t cater for in some way. I sell the fireplace’s themselves, that was the first and most obvious extension of my business. But after that came the firewood business, this part was probably the hardest. It isn’t easy to find burnable wood, it hasn’t been for some time. The new breeds of tree don’t work in my antiquated devices. They’re designed not to burn.

Luckily I’ve come across an organic farmer who refuses to move to the new stuff. He sells me what he has, which is usually not very much. Then I sell it off to my clients, all of them very wealthy, and I try to maybe encourage them to buy a new poker, or a brass brush and shovel to clean the hearth. They seldom go for it though. Much of their fire lighting is just for show, they wont be the ones cleaning up, they only want that yellow glow for an hour or two while their guests sip cocktails.

But those soirees are fewer and farther between these days, and my margins seem to be getting slimmer with every sale. It won’t get me down, I accept it. Like I’ve already said, I don’t do this for money, I do this because I love the fire that burns in the corner of my living room.