Can He Fix it? No, He Can't.


Today I did one of the few household jobs I’m capable of and fixed our toilet flush with a coat-hanger.

(Oh, the glamour.)

You’d think I would have picked up more skills by now but, outside of my toilet-fixing trick, rewiring a plug or replacing the fuse wire in our extremely antiquated fuse-box, I’m pretty useless. Admittedly, I once repainted my bathroom, but I wouldn’t say I did the best job ever; more like somewhere in the Top Ten.

Housework’s a different matter; I’m a dab hand with the iron and a mean-machine when it comes to washing up. The one that puzzles me that people apparently find difficult is doing the laundry; there’s an advert running at the moment for a pod-based detergent you just throw into the drum, which seems to be labour under the misapprehension that pouring liquid is the height of skilled work.

The question is when do you adopt these handyman (or handywoman) skills? Is it all part-and-parcel with becoming a parent? I’m pretty sure that’s not the case as plenty of my friends have kids and they can’t all build extensions or tarmac a drive from scratch. As for me, I can play barre chords, juggle three balls and force a playing card and that’s about it; still, at least I can provide entertainment while you wait for the plumber.

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