Who knew? Building work is a bit like being in an operating theatre and I seem to be getting much better at identifying and passing each tool to the boss. When he’s under a bath or sink with water leaking out from somewhere, speed is of the essence. Unfortunately, sometimes my hands and brain don’t seem to agree, but I muddle along just fine.
I worked on Saturday, my last day with the woman who calls me Alan. The job is almost finished, the skip is twice as full as it should be and I will be sad to say goodbye. It’s been a crazy time and I’ll miss Trixie, the massive dog I sneakily buy treats for.
Anyway, all I had to do was unpack the bits for the sink, toilet and shower, lay them all on the ground and pass them to the boss along with the right tool. Simple.
‘Flathead’. ‘Yes, boss’.
‘Phillips’. ‘Yes, boss’.
‘Smaller Phillips.’ ‘Yes, boss’.
‘Push fits and isolator valves’. ‘Er, um, oh, yes boss’.
‘Adjustables’. ‘Huh??’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll get them myself (rummages in tool bag for ages, sighing dramatically)….these!’
‘Oh, the dinosaur!’ I grabbed them from him and moved the two bits together and actually, it really does look like a dinosaur.
Building can be a tedious and boring business at times, so anything vaguely comical (apart from me being called Alan) is good. I wandered round tidying up, chucked the brush around a few times and we were almost good to go. Until the boss realised the sink was leaking. I passed all the tools, one by one. Then he said, ‘Pass me the dinosaur’ with a pained look on his face. Result! My mission now is to rename each of the tools for a laugh.
I got home tired but happy. Then I noticed that my university books had been delivered. I don’t even want to think about studying, drafting essays or cramming for the exam. It all seems rather pointless, as the career I had planned for when The Teenager was old enough will now probably not happen thanks to MS, but I’ll worry about that another day. I would much rather work out what I can re-name a chisel. Or a circular saw.
Life’s too short to take too seriously…
p.s. where is the snow??
