Slightly Bemused writes:
My Little one has gone home, but the resonance of her stay is still here, in every facet of my life. From the mess on the floor in her bedroom, to the mess on the couch, to the ton of dishes I need to clean.
And she said the most wonderful thing. “Can I leave stuff here for the next time?”
Oh, she managed to break Geoff the dishwasher again. She was surprised when I called him by name. “You named your dishwasher?” Of course I did. But this time it will need a little surgery. And this morning as I sought a clean t-shirt, I pulled the grey one off the drying rack in the kitchen, and realised this is not mine.
I am thinking of doing an instructional video. How to service a baby dishwasher. It would have been useful to have one earlier, but I had to figure it out for myself. Before you get worried, don’t. My Dad was an engineer, and I follow in his exalted footsteps.
Growing up, we had this wonderful round rack for drying dishes. As part of a large family, we were set into teams.
One would set and one would clear the table, one do washing up. One team to wash, one to dry, and one to put away. And in the middle of all of this was this round drying rack. If done right, you followed the march of the dishes around the rack as they dried a bit before getting the towel. and this wonderful central bucket for the cutlery.
Years later my father admitted something. This was the remains of a dishwasher he was given. It did not work, but came to him through friends of my Mum’s eldest brother. They took it back to the house, and as my Dad told it, once of a Saturday they decided to fix it. My Dad was an engineer, did I mention that?
So screws were undone, the cover came off, and eventually little bits and bobs were undone. All while a little scotch (the whisky not the tape) lesson was had here, and there. And in the end this wonderful washing device was, as my Dad’s own mother said, ‘taken totally to part’. And do you think they could remember how it went back together? After too many scotch lessons, even the best engineers forget things!
So our fabulous dishwasher ended up as a drying rack, a few interesting pumpy bits, and strange enameled panels in interesting places, and eventually a wonderful story for a hungry audience.
My little laddie (dishwasher), whom I call Geoff, to my Little one’s confusion, has been on quite the opposite of a diet. A sudden explosion of use, and confusion of communication about how best to treat the poor thing. A real trooper, he has held on, and come back to me. Screws had to come off, but thankfully I knew where they had to go.
For Geoff, I need to fix the racks, so will be in touch with powder coaters over the next short while. Small job, I know, but could add years to his life. See if I can get it piggy-backed onto a larger job – definitely not worth it for just one rack.
Powder coating is amazing. In one of my previous jobs, we used make up large racks for sound equipment, and would have them powder coated, not painted. Beautiful job, done by a very nice crew out near Tallaght. I must check if they are still there. They could transform a simple framework of steel into a beautiful matt finished work of art. We mostly went for black, but I know they had other colours available.
So I am wondering if it is worth doing an instructional video on how to fix your mini dishwasher. To be followed later with ‘how to replace the shock absorbers on your washing machine’. This definitely would be the fool’s guide.
Preferably without the ‘scotch lessons’, at least as we go along.
Slightly Bemused‘s column appears here every Wednesday.
Pic via istock
Nice. The art of repair is nearly dead these days. I remember “helping” my father repair the front wing of an old Opel Kadett in the mid 1970’s with Old coke cans and Isopon. And more recently checking YouTube on how to fix up my washing machine and my shower. I got an extra year out of the washing machine before electrics went that I wasn’t comfortable repairing and we had to get a new one.
The old shower unit is working well enough three years later so we haven’t had to get a new one. (much to my wife’s annoyance I think)
Modern cars and other devices are either sealed or full of microchips that make repairing them almost impossible or other things are made of plastic that snaps and is useless, or is so cheap that replacing things rather than spending one’s limited time repairing them is the default.
That is a pity as it means so much waste, and those teachable moments are gone, like tears in rain, like dust in the wind…but sure the wind of change blows straight into the face of time does it not?
ah brought me back, my old man could fix almost anything, he’d bring home radios and things to fix for the lads in work.
My Dad was handy with a pliers too. I have a lot of regard for men who can fix things and no time for lazy gits whose default response is bin it.
I like to see things being repaired too. I managed to release an air block from the Nespresso machine this evening, so it’s ready for action again. Very satisfying.