Here I must confess that I have over 1000 friends on Facebook. Many of these are people I actually know, either presently or people I have known in the past. Many are acquaintances and friends from my road racing days where, as a photographer, a commentator and an administrator I came in contact with a huge range of people concerned with the sport.
In the same vein many of my FB friends have connections with speedway, either past or present and many belong to my wider circle of acquaintances associated with motorcycling in general. These include those who I have come to know through my later “career” as a journalist.
There are, of course, my family and close friends and then the are the plethora of “friends of friends” people who know people who I know.
And it is one such friend of a friend who is the subject of my article today. His name is Stephen Serafini. I’m not sure of the exact circumstances of how we became friends but we have been now for quite a few years. Stephen lives half a world away in a town called Torrington in the US state of Connecticut. I know next to nothing about the place except that it is on the eastern seaboard of the US. Google tells me that the population is approx 40000 so it’s no small town. Stephen is the sole proprietor of a business called Fab-U-This, an engineering company specialising in custom metal fabrication.
And he’s pretty damn good at what he does as you can see from the enclosed pictures and also the YouTube video.
Stephen rarely publishes pictures of himself (a characteristic that endears him to me even more) preferring to let his work be his identity. In these days of the “selfie” it is refreshing to see someone who hasn’t gotten onboard with this sometimes annoying obsession.
As someone who did one year of metal work at school (our American friends call it “shop”) and who realised very early in that year that he had neither the expertise nor the interest in pursuing it further, I have then always harboured a massive degree of respect for those who have mastered the necessary skills to work in metal especially. My later experiments in fabrication, while being long on inspiration, are mostly short on execution so my admiration for skilled engineers remains.
So I always love seeing what exciting projects are being undertaken in the Serafini workshop. Stephen’s ongoing work with the Land Speed Record Suzuki is a constant fascination to me.
I have never met Stephen nor am I likely to. He is a big guy, with a round, open face, a beard and what appears to be a constant smile. And therein is possibly the most important fact if all. For, in the cyber world where so much is of a negative nature, Stephen is a landmark of positive, happy energy.
Because, and here is the point of my article today, Stephen’s workshop, his factory, actually, is home to a large collection of cats of all sizes, ages and descriptions. As far as I know none of them have been his choice, rather they have chosen him. Foundlings, strays, hand-ins, unwanted by previous owners, this gregarious collection of moggies have made their way to the factory and have there taken up residence. And there they live in peace and contentment under the watchful care of the workshop foreman and his #1 alpha cat, Tommy.
All of Stephen’s cats have names, some pretty conventional, like Tommy, and others off the wall, like “NotNot”. All are part of the family and new arrivals find their place in the pecking order in due time.
Stephen appears to have as great a passion for his feline friends as he does for his many projects and he delights in sharing both with his Facebook friends. When one of his furry friends, “Peanut” was hit by a car and killed recently, the sadness was not only felt in Torrington but all around the world such is the following that Stephen and his cats have.
As I said before, I doubt that I will ever meet Stephen but I feel privileged to know him because he stands as a shining and constant reminder to me that, in a world that is as harsh and unbending as the metal with which he works every day, there is still a place for compassion, love and humanity.
Respect.