Last year, for me the "Year That Was NOT", in between preparing to survive the Great Pandemic, my business fell off a cliff. I am self-employed and if you have ever owned a business then you are acutely aware of both the Good News and the Bad News.
The Good News is that you are the last to be fired. The Bad News is that you are the LAST to get paid.
As the Year That Was Not ground on I realized that I would have to gain a whole new skill set as we entered our own dystopian world.
It had been decades since I read Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. In fact if you were to ask me the entire story line I must confess that most of it has been lost in the deep recesses of my mind.
There was one phrase often repeated in the novel that haunted me and I have never forgot it.
"The ending is better than the mending."
Do you understand? In that Brave New World it was always better simply to replace something rather than fix something.
I never liked the phrase, it seemed rather wasteful. And yet in the Year That Was Not I was confronted several times with the question should I try to fix or simply replace it.
And so it was when one day Mrs. @handofzara informed me that there was water leaking from the washing machine.
Mind you I am absolutely "tool challenged" having never been really mechanically inclined.
So the first plan of action was of course . . .
As you are probably aware the "ignore the problem" plan of action never really works. And with each passing load of laundry Mrs. @handofzara informed me that the washing machine had not fixed itself, as I had tried to assure her that it would one day miraculously self-repair.
Now my loving wife is most patient with me knowing that I suffer greatly from toolbox anxiety syndrome. And she and I were very reluctant to call a repairman being in the Year That Was Not, seeing as even being within two thousand miles of another human being risked certain death and destruction according to all the medical experts.
Besides we had recently had a few bad experiences with repairmen who seemed to charge a hefty fee only to say "the ending is better than the mending." Of course their company would be happy to sell and install a new appliance rather than repair the old one.
So back to plan A of ignore the problem, just put some towels under the washing machine and light some candles while praying for the miracle of self repair.
And everything went rather swimmingly until the neighbors got involved.
I offered them some towels to help out but apparently that was not sufficient to quell the near uprising.
So Mrs @handofzara went to the old interweb to price a new washing machine.
See while I may suffer from "toolbox anxiety syndrome", deep in my core I am a cheap ass bastard! Oh the internal conflict that sticker shock can cause!
Alright so on to Plan B, fix that dang washing machine! So I headed to the old interweb to acquire all the repair knowledge and skills necessary to be a handyman.
So this is what I learned. The leak, in my case, is caused by a breaking down of the seal on the water pump. There are other sources of leaks such as hoses becoming loose or have a tear but for me it was the water pump seal.
The hardest part was tearing down the washing machine, correction the hardest part was putting the washing machine back together. But replacing the water pump, which cost $35 dollars was easy.
So I am pleased to report that now over a year later, we have had no more leaks!
Mark it well that in the Year That Was Not, I changed. The ending is never better than the mending. I will and I do try to mend before I end. Even if I fail in the endeavor it is always better to try.
My world has changed, I have changed, I hope that you have also changed in the Year That Was Not.
How did the Year That Was Not Change You?
Please let me know in the Comments. If you enjoyed my little missive please also consider a rehive.