Hammering wisdom

Before I came to Australia my favourite memories are of spending time with my grandfather in his shed. I remember one time I had picked up a hammer and he took a hold of it in his big miner's hands and pushed my grip down to the end. He said "You hold a bottle by the neck, a woman by the waist and a hammer by the base. Every time I reach for a hammer, those words come back to me. He was a very brave man. His brother was killed on the Somme in WWI and when WWII came around he sent two sons and a son in law to war, and a couple of daughters to work building spitfires. His house was bombed twice and yet every working day he went down the mine and worked all of his shift not knowing if his family was being killed above ground. My reciting this phrase is my attempt at honouring him and passing on some of what he was to the future.