Thanks Dad!

Thanks to my Dad I now have a list of unenviable (or enviable, depending on your point of view!) skills. I can

- Temporarily fix an extractor using a match stick.
- Re-pressurise a household boiler.
- Wire a plug.
- Hang a picture properly.
- Change a fuse.
- Disengage the electrics to different parts of the house (easier these days, thank goodness).
- Change any kind of light bulb.
- Change the oil in a heating system (haven't done that one for a few years, thankfully. It was messy!).
- Fix pretty much any computer/printer/fax machine/photocopier/gadget
- Calibrate new gadgets.
- Mend the hole punch.
- Unjam the stapler.
- Stop the paper guillotine from squeaking.
- At a push, I can probably fix your car engine as well.

It was something which was brought to my attention recently at the day job. We rely a lot on modern technology and, yet, very few people seem to have the know how on how to fix the most minor of faults. Take our photocopier for example. When something goes wrong with it, it flashes up a message saying exactly what's wrong and how to fix it. Yet very few people follow what are seemingly simple instructions, often leaving it and hoping that someone else fixes it. It's the same with our outdated fax machine. It often doesn't dial out. The good old switching it on and off tends to fix it. I couldn't believe it when, several months ago, someone asked me to show them how to use a photocopier. While we have a maintenance man at the day job, when he's away on holiday fixing minor problems tends to fall to one person.

Me.

And you know what? I don't mind! I love it! It's a challenge, a break from my normal job, and a chance to put my brain to good use. I enjoy going digging through the tool box looking for whatever I might need. The most recent call was to hang a fallen curtain pole and, if I'd been able to find the wall plugs, I'd have done it. That was my first failure but we live and learn.

Those little skills we all have are amazing and you never know when you're going to need them. It's incredible how often they can be used!

An Ode to Dad

Dad turned 60 today.

Can't believe it. Where have the years gone?!

Apparently I was a bit of a surprise. My parents were told they couldn't have kids. Then it happened and, on 14th February 1981, I was born, the first of three. If the story's to be believed, Dad didn't hear the tannoy telling him he needed to get to the hospital. Instead, his foreman had to go and get him and tell him to get himself to the hospital pronto.

Dad and I haven't always seen eye to eye (quite literally, as I'm a lot smaller!). Our arguments when I was a teenager were legendary and are still talked about today. But, over the years, we've both mellowed and come to have a mutual appreciation of many things (a good piece of engineering, a fine wine, a bloody good football match).

So many things about Dad never fail to impress me. The way he stands up to what's right, even if it's not the opinion of everyone else. His work ethic. His ability to be able to fix anything. The way he can plan something to within an inch of its life and, when everyone else doubts him, the way it all pulls together. There's so many things I could list and I'm sure I'll keep discovering them.

Happy birthday, Dad! Here's to the next 10 years!