I’ll fix it myself – I’m not calling any electrician

A recession is a do-it-yourself time, right?

About the same time as the heat wave arrived, my wife informed me that the fan in the bedroom was not working. Sleeping without a fan in summer is impossible. I reached for the phone book to call George, our friendly electrician but stopped my hand in mid-motion. Friendly as he is, George still charges $100 for a visit and then adds to that any other costs he incurs. Every time George calls, the bill comes to about $200.

I'll fix it myself

The fan sits over our king size bed. I went into my painting studio and took all the paints, brushes and other painting junk off, removed the top from the trestles and carried it to the bedroom. The top is large and heavy and my back is fragile. "Take one of those Payday Loans you're always writing about," said my wife, "and call George." I smiled at her.

A test spin

The board on the bed was a master stroke. I was firmly balanced and I could reach the fan. I was about to take the cover off when I remembered that the electricity was on. I called to my wife, to go to the switchboard and turn it off. Too late I remembered the computers and as I yelled 'wait!" the lights went out. I hope the computer can recover an almost completed article I was working on and had not yet saved but I doubt it. Still, we're in a recession and all and here I am saving hard-earned money.

Putting everything together

The fan is in pieces all over the bed and I can see nothing wrong. The switches go 'click' and the blades swing freely; there are no batteries that could have gone flat, what else could it be? So I put it all back together, switch on the electricity and then the fan. Nothing. Dead as a doornail. I leap back onto the bed and swing the blade like Lindberg swinging the propeller of his plane – nothing. I curse and I plead – no change. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "I'll fix it myself – I'm not calling any electrician"