[Misc] Mucked up again

[Gwylan]

Also it’s usually a few years since you f***** up and you’ve forgotten the pain, the difficulty, to read the instructions and you still have the same crappy tools.

Sure, I get that. But what I don't understand is the people who say that every few years I try to fix something and I made a mess of it. It would be like having one driving lesson and then five years later having another one and wondering why they've made no progress.

The tradespeople that you're calling on to fix plumbing disasters aren't blessed with innate skills, they spent years perfecting their craft - they probably made cock-ups at the beginning too.

Every skill, every skill takes some practice. I speak French pretty well but I didn't have immediate understanding of it, it took several years of regular drills to get to understand it. Talking about DIY disasters after one attempt is like someone going along to one French lesson and then moaning that, after two hours, they can't read Les Miserables in the original language,

 

[Normal Rob]

Sure, I get that. But what I don't understand is the people who say that every few years I try to fix something and I made a mess of it. It would be like having one driving lesson and then five years later having another one and wondering why they've made no progress.

The tradespeople that you're calling on to fix plumbing disasters aren't blessed with innate skills, they spent years perfecting their craft - they probably made cock-ups at the beginning too.

Every skill, every skill takes some practice. I speak French pretty well but I didn't have immediate understanding of it, it took several years of regular drills to get to understand it. Talking about DIY disasters after one attempt is like someone going along to one French lesson and then moaning that, after two hours, they can't read Les Miserables in the original language,

But how often should one be plumbing? or doing DIY? In my house I hope to god that problems only arise every few years. More than that then there is possibly a more fundamental problem surely? Should I be breaking things deliberately in order to practice? (the breaking things I clearly find easy). Or should I be walking up and down my street asking neighbours if they have anything ****** in their house that I can **** up further in order to hopefully improve my skills over the years?

 

[timbha]

But how often should one be plumbing? or doing DIY? In my house I hope to god that problems only arise every few years. More than that then there is possibly a more fundamental problem surely? Should I be breaking things deliberately in order to practice? (the breaking things I clearly find easy). Or should I be walking up and down my street asking neighbours if they have anything ****** in their house that I can **** up further in order to hopefully improve my skills over the years?

Great post. I feel the sincerity.

 

[The Optimist]

I feel your pain. I can assure you, and my wife will absolutely attest to this, I am the most useless man alive when it comes to anything remotely practical, particularly anything that involves finesse or dexterity. I was born this way - my brain just isn't wired in a way that makes practical tasks, especially DIY, viable. What might seem like a straightforward task or series of processes to most people is utterly mindboggling to me - I genuinely couldn't even tie my own shoelaces until I was about thirteen, that's how bad it is.

My dear old mum has always told me that she thinks I am 'dyspraxic'. I'm not sure whether it's even a medically recognised condition, but it's essentially dyslexia for doing 'stuff'. My head doesn't communicate with my hands, and vice versa, in a smooth or logical way. It's like the messages my brain wants to send get scrambled along the way, so what happens at the other end bares no resemblance to what was intended. I have always been monumentally clumsy.

I make up for my flaws in other ways, but it's nevertheless quite emasculating having to 'get a man in' to put up a couple of shelves, or something equally rudimentary. The fact you're having a go is something in itself. I do, just about, have a go at flat pack furniture but that seldom ends well - the amount of times I've had to return things, half-built, because..."err...it was faulty", you wouldn't believe.

Just remember, no matter how bad you are at something, there's always someone out there who is worse than you. Except me. I am pretty sure I am the worst person in the world at DIY.

Don't sweat it, you're no doubt better than a lot of other people at something else.

Dyspraxia is a medically recognised condition. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/developmental-coordination-disorder-dyspraxia-in-adults/

 

[Poojah]

Dyspraxia is a medically recognised condition. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/developmental-coordination-disorder-dyspraxia-in-adults/

Thanks for that. I certainly tick a lot of those boxes, or at least I did growing up and have learned to manage them. Not all of them, to this day I can barely read my own handwriting, not that I write much without a keyboard these days.

Interesting that it's also linked to ADHD as well, because I've thought I've had that as well although doctors always stopped short of a diagnosis when my parents took me in the 90's. I guess these things are better understood now than they were then.