Jack of all trades --255

Jack of all trades and master of none

A job well done (If you try harder)

Over my lifetime there are not many jobs that I have not tackled, and as with every job, the more you do of that particular job the better you get at it.

On the domestic side

Take hair dressing for example, not that far fetched from sheep shearing, or cattle clipping, when we were kids (four of us lads), father used to cut our hair with clippers that he had to squeeze with his hand to operate the blade.

The problem was when he was in a hurry, (and it was always the first day of a new term), which he often was, he would push the clipper up the back of ya neck faster than what he was operating the blade, the result was he was pulling our hair by the roots.

 He did make a good tidy job, and many compared it with how he thatched his ricks of hay and corn, combed down to the eves and clipped up the sides.

On the workshop side 

Take welding, unless you get a bit of tuition, and then get plenty of time to put into practice what you have just learnt, its no use. In my case it’s a matter of tapping the rod onto the metal until you get a spark, then keep melting the rod into the joint. In reality, the rod more often than not gets stuck and welded to the job. After a vigorous twisting and pulling it breaks free, peeling and cracking the coating off the rod making it impossible to strike an arc to get going again.  Must admit, my welding has been called and likened to pigeon shit welding. So I get by on doing repairs that are not too crucial or to essential, just bog standard welding.

I’ll never be a “sparkie”

All things electrical are very mystical to me, as soon as a wire disappears into a wall, it come out a different colour at the other end. Two way light switches, for example,

they beat me every time,  its okay to fit a new bulb holder, or new three pin plug and simple thing like that.

Another thing that is always awkward for me that does not crop up very often is the trailer light sockets and plugs, with , is it seven or nine wires to connected in to  correspond to what the vehicle wires want to convey.  Wiring looms, alternators, and the back or the inside of  a vehicle dash boards are way beyond my comprehension,  Fuses I can manage, but on the modern tractor there can be thirty or more, thank goodness for the instruction book, it lists and numbers them and what strength of fuse to use.

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody

Bill Cosby (1937)