Homely Handiness

I live in an old, British colonial house called a "Black & White" in Singapore. It has housed British officers during their years in the Straits, and as you can imagine, it has many charming features, as well as quite a few quirky ones. Like how I have to reset the fuse-box everytime there is a thunderstorm, which is often, considering this country has TWO monsoon seasons. I have to go around the house straightening all the picture frames after a each lightning-filled event, thanking God for whoever thought of installing 12 lightning rods on our roof.

Then there's a series of lightbulb tests and replacement. Which sounds simple enough until you realize there are 64 of them, and about 4 types of bulbs. And the bulb casing falls apart if you don't handle it with kid gloves. Make that rubber gloves or any non-conductor material.

There are also constant leaks, creaks and the occasional shrub that grows in whatever crack the house develops, like in between roof tiles, or door frame... There is also an electric gate that dies with a power surge. And shelves that need hammering every now and then.

On the modern front, a slew of home electronics keep me busy, as well as the never ending parade of electronic toys. I think gadgets should soon fall under the handyman's area of responsibility - still waaaay too many wires and cables, wi-fi extenders and wi-fi dependent streaming toys, phone & Blackberry chargers, digital photo frames, audio-video set-up switching, cable programming... I'm pretty good with sorting those out. Isn't a handyman's first job is to be "handy"???

But the proudest handyman jobs I've done would have to include sewing stuffed animals' seams, gluing school projects together, and framing school art to hang on bedroom walls. There's also that water filter for the fish-then-crab-then turtle aquarium that always need some fixin'. And I score big points everytime I help push in a Bionicle joint into its tight spot.

Still, a smart handywoman knows when to play damsel in distress. A man still has to feel like he is useful around the house, you know. Even when we know better ;).