Drain Unblocking Inability

My wife and daughter pity me. They’re both really handy, well put together women, which I’m proud of them for. But because they can do everything so perfectly and with such ease, they don’t see the need for me to do anything. For example, the toilet became clogged overnight and I offered to fix it. It was pretty obvious that it would take me longer than it would take any of them, including the plumber obviously, but I wanted to try anyway. I had the day off work so I didn’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be the person to deal with the blocked sewer. In the Melbourne area, our sewers are old, so I’m not surprised that ours broke down, or whatever happened to it.  What I am surprised about is how little faith my family has in me. Just because things take me a little longer doesn’t mean I can’t do them

I was determined to prove that to my wife and daughter. I spent all day today trying to fix it, and if I’m honest, I’m glad that my wife wasn’t home to witness it. I became increasingly frustrated with the blocked drain that I had in front of me. I may have even told my daughter to go away, which I feel bad about now that I’ve calmed down. I will apologise to her in the morning. I think part of being a good parent is admitting when you’re wrong. It teaches your child that people, even adults, make mistakes and that it’s important to own up to those mistakes.

Anyway, I digress. If you’re wondering what happened with the whole blocked drain/toilet ordeal, I hadn’t managed to unblock it by the time my wife got home from work. We ended up calling a drain plumber in the Melbourne CBD to come to our house after hours. The plumber fixed the toilet, obviously, but my dignity went down the drain as soon as he walked in the door. Pun, unfortunately, intended. 

 

Bowed legs

If anyone is going to make you paranoid, it is your in-laws. I’ve never noticed anything strange about any of the kids. Sure, my daughter picks her nose and eats it sometimes but beyond that I haven’t noticed anything odd. Even the nose-picking can be argued as normal. Then the other day my mother-in-law, who I like to refer to as the ‘dragon’, suddenly turned around and mentioned that my son’s legs are bowed. I corrected her and said they’re not and he’s simply going through an awkward stage crossing over from toddler to child. She then snapped back and told me that it’d be wise to send him to the childrens’ orthotics specialist near Cheltenham so he can be properly examined before he turns out like me. Not only did she insult my son but she insulted me too all within one minute. For the record, my legs aren’t bowed either! Of course, my sometimes-foolish husband has locked his mum’s words deep within his subconscious and keeps suggesting that it might be wise to take our son to the specialist. I for one am insulted that my husband can’t have more of a backbone in this matter. Then again, I’m not surprised. His mum has probably been in his ear nonstop about sending our son to the specialist.

While I’m inclined to be a brat and go against her wishes, I think this time I will take my son to the specialist just so I can prove her wrong and tell her to mind her business in future.  There’s a foot specialist nearby that I always pass on the way to work. I think I might send my son there. I think what irritates me most about this interaction is how she went about mentioning my son’s legs. It wasn’t a polite statement of concern. It was as if she found him repulsive and then she proceeded to bark orders at me like I was some servant. Anyone else have to deal with mothers-in-law like mine?

My new tray

I really enjoy being a tradie. No two jobs feel the same as I’m always working at different locations. As far as the work itself, it has become quite second nature to me and I’ve learned to become quite a good problem solver whenever I encounter an issue I’m not familiar with. I’d say I have all the tools I need now too which is super handy, plus I recently bought my own ute. The only things that I’m missing now are aluminium ute canopies. I never really thought I needed one but recently I saw a news report where some local teenagers broke into some poor unsuspecting tradie’s ute and stole his uniform and tools. I think a canopy would provide the extra security that I need.

I never really thought much about aluminium canopies until now. It seems like something that a lot of tradespeople are starting to put on the back of their utes. Like anything I buy, I like to do some research first to make sure I buy the best and most suitable item. I’ve also been looking online for the best ute toolboxes for Melbourne tradies. This robbery that happened recently definitely has got me in a bit of a worry, so I’m not worried about investing extra money into items that are more secure. It will pay off in the long run as I won’t have to fork out a whole chunk of money should the unfortunate happen if someone breaks into my ute. I’m also going to ask around at work and see if any of the other boys have any recommendations. While it is great to get opinions from people online, I do find these can be inaccurate at times as people only like to leave reviews for things that are bad. I think the best next step for me is to ask the guys at work and see what they recommend before cross-checking their recommendations with some online reviews too.

My Messy Brother

‘What?!’ I called out to my wife, struggling to hear her over the sound of rushing water. ‘Vanessa, I can’t hear you!’

She took a tentative step into the bathroom, closer to me, the water coming up past her ankles as it erupted from all of the pipes.

‘I said,’ she screamed, close enough for me to make it out, ‘that I told you so!’

‘Not particularly helpful!’ I called back at her with a frown. She reached out and grabbed my arm for support, dragging herself to stand with me in the bathtub. Ironically, it was one of the only dry places in the entire room.

‘You and your idiot brother!’ she shook her head.

‘How was I supposed to know he wouldn’t fix it?’

‘I told you, there are plenty of professional drainage contracts available near Melbourne,’ she shook her head. ‘But noooo, he deserved another shot!’

‘He did,’ I protested. ‘He’s been back to school and got his plumbing certification and everything!’

I want to see that diploma!’ she screeched at me. I took an involuntary step backwards at the sight of her very, very angry eyes.

‘Look,’ I said, placing my hands on my hips in an attempt at maintaining the higher ground. ‘Mistakes were made.’

‘Choose your next words very carefully,’ she yell-whispered above the roar of the rapids. ‘Or I’m about to drown you in three inches of toilet water.’

‘Well,’ I gulped. ‘We sure aren’t the only people who need blocked drain repair in the Brighton area.’

‘Go on.’

‘So it stands to reason…’ my tongue ran dry for a moment, until I physically willed saliva back into my mouth, ‘that other people have had this same problem.’

‘This problem?’ she arched an eyebrow, waving a hand over our flooded bathroom, and rapidly flooding home. ‘This problem seems, what… precedented, to you?’

‘Of course,’ I nodded, feigning confidence. ‘So let’s get a professional out who’s fixed this exact problem before! No harm, no… honey?’

For the first time in my life, I physically heard the sound of somebody clenching their fists.

Starting our garden

Months ago we saw this really cheap weatherboard house for sale in a really affluent area. We thought it would be more cost-effective to snap up that property purely for the large space of land it sits on, knock down the house, and build something new. As far as the house design, we hired a builder to put that together. While in the process of building we received an objection complaint from the council which had been submitted by one of our future neighbours. We can’t be too sure of who made the complaint but I have a sneaking suspicion it might be the neighbour on our left. The other day my brother came past to drop off a few paint swatches for our interior. Apparently, the neighbour came outside in a huff and absolutely berated him for parking on the left side of the road, even though he was only stopping by for a minute. Our street has zero parking restrictions, yet this bossyboots somehow believes that they have the right to dictate who parks their car where.

To top it off, the other day this neighbour came by and totally invited himself into our home without our permission, and started critiquing every little aspect of the house. It was bizarre. Then as he left, he insulted our unfinished garden! This interaction inspired me to buy miniature roses. I have had no time to pursue a nursery to find plants suitable for our yard. Looking online meant that I could sit back in between jobs I needed to do for my home, learn about the different plants that are available, figure out whether or not they’d be suitable, and place an order.  

I ended up ordering a dozen sunflowers, some daisies, some ferns, and six David Austin roses. They’re expected to arrive very soon. Let’s hope this nosey neighbour doesn’t take issue with the postman trying to deliver me these miniature roses seeds. I wonder how the rest of the street feels about him. Surely they can’t like him, he’s a total pain.

Druid Kitchen Designer

I knew I shouldn’t have let that homeless lady stay at my house this week. My wife said it would be fine, that we’d be doing a good thing for someone in need, but I told her it would be more trouble than it was worth. I’d better get a lot of good karma for this because my house is completely ruined! You see, she wasn’t just your average, everyday homeless person begging for cash in the city. This woman was actually a druid. A real, magical druid, like from Goblins and Grottos. She’s been walking around the house ranting about how we need more nature, and it isn’t natural to be living around so many artificial materials. With her magic, she’s been spreading vines and flowers everywhere! We’re supposed to get a luxury kitchen renovation tomorrow, but I’m not sure how they’ll be able to work in here with all the natural obstructions this druid has added. I’m just sick of it! I’m sick of her!

If she loves nature so much, then why did she want to be in my house anyway? It doesn’t make any sense. Shouldn’t she be living out in the elements, building some sort of shack from sticks and grass if she wants shelter? It’s pretty hypocritical to say the way we live is unnatural, while also taking advantage of our home’s comfort. I’m not going to let some hippie druid stop me from having an awesome renovation by the best kitchen design company around Melbourne. They’ve won awards for their awesome kitchens, and I want my kitchen to reach that top level of style. Maybe I should take a match and burn those vines and flowers until the druid eventually decides to leave. If she wants to bother someone about living amongst nature, that’s completely fine, but it won’t be me. I won’t put up with it one moment longer. My wife might think I’m a jerk for it, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

Tinted Windows Appreciation

We all know what it’s like to have weird co-workers. My work is no different and I have a few weird co-workers who I try to spend as little time with as possible. It’s nothing against them, we just have extremely different interests and I don’t really want to talk about what they want to talk about. For example one of my co-workers, let’s call him Jim, is obsessed with winter and the windows in our office. I find it peculiar he cares so much about these things. I’ve never known anyone to be so obsessed with windows before.

Whenever I am unfortunate enough to have to spend time with him, he’ll go on and on about the commercial window tinting. Melbourne offices are definitely of the highest quality and standard, but considering the windows to be the best part of our office space isn’t the first thing that would come to my mind. Oh well, different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I just wish he wouldn’t force me to stare out the window and tell him that the windows are clearly better in winter than they are in summer. I mean, seriously, who cares about that type of stuff? I’m just here to get my work done and socialise with the coworkers that I like, not talk about frosted window tinting

I wish it was summer again. My weird coworker isn’t so perky when it’s warm. It’s like he hibernates in summer but becomes the spokesperson for the cold and windows in winter. I’ve tried to explain all this to people outside of work but they just don’t get it. Their weird co-workers are just socially awkward, not obsessed with random things. 

I’ve got to go now. It’s almost his scheduled lunch break slot and I don’t want to ruin the last fifteen minutes of my lunch with him. Sorry, but not sorry.