Thursday 24 March 2011

Craftsmanship

Craftsmanship

With a new house there are - of course - some things that need fixing. Such as a broken water heater in the kitchen. The process was a little more involved and more interesting than I expected.

Day 1, a technician diagnosed the problem: the on/off switch had burned out. (Interestingly, the wires were disconnected from the burned out switch and neatly capped off.)

Day 2, another technician confirmed the diagnosis, and took out the burned part of the switch.

Day 3, a third technician came to install the replacement part. He took the cover plate off, and then asked if he could use my sandals. I did a double take, and then realised that he was planning to install the switch on live wires with only the protection of the rubber soles of my sandals. He declined the offer to switch off power, and expertly installed the switch. Wearing my sandals. Impressive, and a little scary. Do not try this at home.

1 comment:

  1. The first bit sounds similar to when we rented a place in Wales for a year. The woodblock floor started lifting up in waves in the Kitchen.

    For three weeks the Landlord told us that people had been in to "look at it".
    "Oh well" I said with characteristic sarcasm "That should be fine then"

    But changing a switch with rubber flip flops on? that's just Rambo that is!!

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