Can you do anything, if you try hard enough?

Ah, but there is always the exception to the rule that you can do anything Marylin My Sweet....... it's me off course.

That was my opening response to another wonderful letter from Marylin Shepherd Warner on her weekly letter to her Mom who has dementia and Marylin's letters are her way of recording the many wonderful things that her Mom taught her growing up and that she herself has passed on to her own children and grandchildren.  you can read her latest letter here:

Things I Want to Tell My Mother

I then went on to explain, that for some of us, learning, a particular skill set is; really beyond our ken ........

(c) www.millsycartoons.co.uk

Another example of that was Friday. For the first time ever Ishbel and I decided that we would put some Christmas lights out in the garden so I asked my electrical contractor at work to put a socket out there.  He did. Proper double sockets with safety cut out switches and in an all weather box, just the job.  I duly plugged the lights in closed the lid and broke it .... Now don't think he put in a cheap box, no, not at all, best on the market.  It is just that I am so cack handed at anything DIY that in almost 38 years Ishbel has learned not to get me to do anything as I am so useless at it.

Hanging paper, not a chance. Did it once when Ishbel was out. she came in walked in to the kitchen and said, 'very nice dear, but do you know what would have been better, if you'd managed to hang all the strips running in the same direction!' Oops, and of course as it usually tuns out too, I always seem to get the paste mixture wrong and you will be sitting there one day in the not to distant future when a strip or two will start to peel in a corner and then gravity kicks in and it rolls down the wall.... Eyes are raised, and I just shrug 'what did you expect'.

Same with rawl plugs in walls, I can never seem to match the hole to the plug or the screw for that matter and whatever I hang normally falls off quite soon after been hung. If visiting, check to see who hung what above the chair you choose before sitting, it may be a life saver ......

(c) www.millsycartoons.co.uk

Taking the oven door off to clean it properly. I had watched the engineer do this recently as he took it off to carry out a repair.  Easy peasy. Lift the catch on both hinges. grab the handle pull out and up in one fluid motion and off it comes, what could be easier. To put back on, line up the hinges slide in and gently push down.  hah.... £89 call out charge to replace one bent and useless hinge is what happened next ...... I could go on and there are plenty of these stories but even the grand kids cover their eyes in fear of what is going to happen if they see me with as much as a screw driver in my hand let alone a power tool

Mind you I could jump out of airplanes, shoot almost any weapon on the planet in my day, blow up things, pot hole, canoe, sail, map read, but then again I was shot, stabbed, crippled almost drowned in the English Channel and on the Danube and down a flooding pot hole system, had a touch of hypothermia, been in a couple of crashes (not involving other vehicles) Rock climb, abseil, you name it I've probably done it, I even managed to sew buttons on my uniforms in the army and darn a sock or two in my time but nothing more basic than that

So, pretty useless, BUT I am a survivor and that's my overriding goal at the moment, to survive so that I can keep annoying Ishbel, the Kids and the Grandkids for years to come and to keep reading your wonderful and inspiring weekly letter to your beautifully gifted and talented mother ......


oops.... Just been reminded about two crashes involving vehicles, one into the back of a UPS truck and one when Ishbel was in the car too and was pretty shaken up but no physical damage. memory problems too you see

Xxxx