His work was tiresome and demanding, requiring him, amongst other things, to keep a fire burning at a constant temperature. Quite often he would wake up in the night, troubled that things were not going well. Concerns over servants, fires, and the cost of fuel were steady preoccupations. He was also pursued by fairly constant bad luck: "God send me better fortune or else I am clean discouraged and will turn from philosophy to husbandry and go and get me unto the plough." When England went to war with France in 1557, the local Justice of the Peace, who seems to have been a personal enemy, made sure that Thomas was forced into military service. In frustration, he took a hatchet to his equipment, smashing glasses and pots alike. Undaunted, Charnock was back at his experiments seven years later.