Chapter Ten: 'Sean's and Tony's Partnership'
Between Sean's thirtieth birthday and his big fortieth, he and Tony remained in very fruitful and rewarding partnership throughout the decade. As their relationship grew, Sean effectively became like a son to Tony; a son to whom he would willingly pass on every secret of his trade as a stonemason. They built themselves a nice stone house up in the Scottish highlands, which they would visit between the conclusion of one project and the commencement of the next contract of work. They saw this highland dwelling as a retreat; a place where they would attempt to get one full month staying there every year.
The couple worked on numerous projects around the whole of Great Britain, France, Norway and Finland and as each project brought them more in financial reward than their previous project had earned them, they gradually became very wealthy. Their work was sought after by those wealthy occupiers who wished to live in a house that had its own individual identity. They became so much in demand that they could have had advance commissions right up to the New Millennium, had they so desired.
Most of their spare time was spent driving around to heritage sites and other areas of interest where a stone lover feels automatically at home; places where any person who is in love with stone can see the many forms and uses that nature and man can fashion it into.
Most of their spare time was spent driving around to heritage sites and other areas of interest where a stone lover feels automatically at home; places where any person who is in love with stone can see the many forms and uses that nature and man can fashion it into.
In Tony's 69th year of life, he found the stone cutting too physically demanding on his hands with the onset of severe arthritis. His hands had started to lose their strength and this affected his ability to hold the stone chisel firmly. He didn't feel like he possessed the strength any more to cut with the certainty and conviction of hold of the chisel he'd had all of his life. So lighter work, but no less demanding in skill was produced by him. With the use of an electric tree saw and special woodworking chisels, his sculpting now went into fashioning trees and shrubbery in the images of monsters and the Green Man of folklore fame. This work enabled Tony to feel that he was still pulling his partnership weight, besides fitting in nicely with the many strange dwellings that people were now wanting from the pair.
In 1999, Tony's lifetime of alcoholic abuse came back to bite him with a vengeance. Despite having abstained from drink for many years, he started to develop liver problems. Since undertaking his first joint project in Newcastle upon Tyne with Sean, he had not allowed one drop of alcohol to pass his lips. It seemed so unjust a reward to receive after so much effort to stop had gone into it!
Tony had managed to succeed in conquering his addiction largely because he had acknowledged its presence in his life. He'd managed to control his addiction, because like any good alcoholic who regularly attends 'Alcoholics Anonymous', he always acknowledged the possibility of relapse if he tried to deceive himself into believing that his alcoholic consumption could be indulged in a limited way by modifying his drinking habit, instead of quitting it! He said that he could always have had a drink and know that he would still thoroughly enjoy one, but recognised that he was only one drink away from being managed by the demon once more. He knew that nothing less than total abstinence for the rest of his life would suffice if he truly wanted to beat the bottle!
During the past five years, Tony had twice tried to re-initiate contact with his son and daughter, but on each occasion, neither of them had positively responded. Sean could sense the pain and anguish that this repeated rejection from his own children had caused his dear friend. Towards the end of January 1999, Tony had to be rushed into hospital after his skin had turned a pallid yellow colour. He was told that he was fast approaching the final stage of liver failure and was placed on the transplant list. From that moment on, his health went rapidly downhill.
In the spring of 1999, Tony experienced other medical complications and died. At the time of his death, the duo had just completed a contract of work in Scotland. Tony said that he didn't want to breathe his last lung of air in a hospital bed and added that he wanted to die in the house where Sean and he spent one or two months every year; their little hideaway that was nestled in the Scottish highlands. During Tony's last evening, he asked to be seated outside where he could look at the view that they had created.
The couple had once seen some stone art in County Louth, Northern Ireland, whereby a huge boulder had been delicately balanced on the tapered tops of two natural stone pillars. Sean and Tony had admired this look so much that they replicated it on the grass near their highland home. As he sat and stared lovingly at the stone sculpt, Tony imagined the day he had first set eyes upon it in County Louth and as his mind took his body back there, he gasped his last breath. When Sean next looked at him, his friend, father substitute and business partner had died.
The couple had once seen some stone art in County Louth, Northern Ireland, whereby a huge boulder had been delicately balanced on the tapered tops of two natural stone pillars. Sean and Tony had admired this look so much that they replicated it on the grass near their highland home. As he sat and stared lovingly at the stone sculpt, Tony imagined the day he had first set eyes upon it in County Louth and as his mind took his body back there, he gasped his last breath. When Sean next looked at him, his friend, father substitute and business partner had died.
After the death of Tony, Sean felt it too painful to retain the highland cottage where they'd shared so many good memories and where they'd often planned the finer details of their next joint project, so he put it up for sale after he'd buried Tony's remains on it.
Tony had often said that he wanted to be buried there after he'd fallen in love with the highland plot they owned. Sean discovered that there were no covenants attached to the title deeds which prohibited burial, and providing all other conditions pertaining to proximity to ‘dry’ ditches or field drains, boreholes or springs were observed, he could go ahead and comply with Tony's final wishes. All he required therefore in addition to such observances was to obtain a Certificate of Authority for Burial from the Registrar of Births and Deaths.
Tony was therefore buried on the land to the left of the stone wall that they'd earlier built with boulders they'd moved from other parts of the land and had reassembled. The boulders stretched from beyond the distance legally required to allow a private grave of natural order that blended in with the surrounding land. Sean had felt strange at the time of reconstructing this natural memorial years before his partner had died, but he told himself that if that was what his partner one day wanted, then that is what he'd get if Sean was still alive to carry out Tony's wishes in this respect.
Tony had often said that he wanted to be buried there after he'd fallen in love with the highland plot they owned. Sean discovered that there were no covenants attached to the title deeds which prohibited burial, and providing all other conditions pertaining to proximity to ‘dry’ ditches or field drains, boreholes or springs were observed, he could go ahead and comply with Tony's final wishes. All he required therefore in addition to such observances was to obtain a Certificate of Authority for Burial from the Registrar of Births and Deaths.
Tony was therefore buried on the land to the left of the stone wall that they'd earlier built with boulders they'd moved from other parts of the land and had reassembled. The boulders stretched from beyond the distance legally required to allow a private grave of natural order that blended in with the surrounding land. Sean had felt strange at the time of reconstructing this natural memorial years before his partner had died, but he told himself that if that was what his partner one day wanted, then that is what he'd get if Sean was still alive to carry out Tony's wishes in this respect.
With Tony gone, Sean went into a period of protracted mourning. It took him seven months to sort out the highland property, during which time he changed his mind and instead retained its ownership; deciding instead to rent it out. Tony had left him his half ownership of the cottage in his will, so Sean felt that it would perhaps have been improper to sell it on. The rest of Tony's assets, which had grown to over £90,000 in his ten-year partnership with Sean, was bequeathed to The National Trust, with the request that the money be used towards improving the stone work on any British heritage site.
Sean felt it somewhat strange that Tony, who had dearly loved his children and had always wanted reconciliation with them, had decided to omit them as beneficiaries of his will. It was as though he died having rejected all past life he'd known and had only embraced that life period spent with Sean. Sean felt a bit disappointed with his dear friend to have made his last act in life less family focused than he'd always seemed to be. He prayed that this act would not lead to the stairway to heaven being withdrawn for Tony.
Sean felt it somewhat strange that Tony, who had dearly loved his children and had always wanted reconciliation with them, had decided to omit them as beneficiaries of his will. It was as though he died having rejected all past life he'd known and had only embraced that life period spent with Sean. Sean felt a bit disappointed with his dear friend to have made his last act in life less family focused than he'd always seemed to be. He prayed that this act would not lead to the stairway to heaven being withdrawn for Tony.
It was the spring of the New Millennium when Sean decided to return to his homeland in Ireland. He had now reached his forthieth year of life and he knew that if he was ever to settle down, now was the time and Ireland was the place. He hoped that Portlaw might still hold attraction for him, but if it didn't, then he'd simply move on to another part of Ireland.
The first stage of his pilgrimage however, would be to revisit Portlaw and pray at his mother's graveside. Having managed to purchase the plot of land just outside Portlaw a number of years back, where he had promised to build himself a house one day, he looked forward to revisiting the site and reassessing the project with fresh eyes. Sean hadn't taken on any new commissions since Tony's death and he had more or less vowed that the next dwelling he would build would be his own dream house. Little did Sean realise how overgrown his plot had become since he'd last seen it.
The first stage of his pilgrimage however, would be to revisit Portlaw and pray at his mother's graveside. Having managed to purchase the plot of land just outside Portlaw a number of years back, where he had promised to build himself a house one day, he looked forward to revisiting the site and reassessing the project with fresh eyes. Sean hadn't taken on any new commissions since Tony's death and he had more or less vowed that the next dwelling he would build would be his own dream house. Little did Sean realise how overgrown his plot had become since he'd last seen it.
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