When I was at boarding school, many years ago, it was customary for boys to have at least one hobby to help pass the limited amount of spare time between school activities.
There were of course many stamp collectors in those days but also a lot of quite unusual hobbies.
One boy I remember spent all his spare time wood-carving. He specialized in heraldic crests, coats of arms etc., and spent hours carving the intricate designs and then painting them. They were beautiful. Another boy taught himself to play the ukelele, I was fascinated by his musical talent and asked him to teach me, which he did, starting me on a lifetime of interest in musical instruments. Yet another boy was building a collection of geological specimens, rocks to you and me. He used to carry his rock collection to and from school each term in a large wooden crate with rope handles, called his "rocks box". As his collection grew, the box got heavier! In the end it took two of us to help him lift it into the train at end of term. Phew!
The point of this story is that although these boys were academic and probably went on into careers of an entirely different nature, they had their hobbies and the special skills they involved to fall back on for relaxation and possibly even a small second income.
There is no end to the possibility of making money out of the most bizarre of pastimes. All hobbies require that you build specialist knowledge and skills, sometimes without realising it. Knowledge is power. Whatever your hobby is, if you are not earning at least a bit of "pin money" out of it, you may be wasting a valuable talent.
More later ...
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