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.