Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Home Maintenance for Women and the Pillars of Modernism

Tonight in Week 2 of my WEA class, I did something I've never done before in my life: I used a power drill. Unfortunately I've been too long acquainted with the works of Freud not to be a little giggly about it. As T.S. Eliot once said, 'After such knowledge, what forgiveness?'

17 comments:

Francis Xavier Holden said...

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25509892-23289,00.html

You go girl - Don't let those boys be the only heros

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Yes, wasn't that a fantastic story! Here's the link. The De Walt is one of the drills our WEA tutor, Adelaide builder, carpenter and legend Rose Squire, was recommending tonight in class, so there you go.

lucy tartan said...

On the 7.30 report that doctor said he drilled in as far as he wanted to go, and then he had to ask the doctor assisting him how to put the drill in reverse. So I hope you covered that essential skill.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Yes!

I didn't know either, though I bet you did. For anyone else who may not know this, you do not put the drill in reverse. You simply keep it going (gently), while you remove it (slowly). Do not, repeat do not, simply try to pull it out, especially not out of a bleeding skull, I should think. (And here's an extra tip from a medical TV show addict: try not to breathe in any bone dust.)

Drills only go into reverse when you are using them to unscrew screws. How cool is that? Ask me something else I didn't know before last night!

Doesn't Anne of Green Gables' husband Gilbert try a very very early version of this on another character?

TimT said...

I've always been interested in the etymologies of the words 'drill' and thrill, and just what they meant originally. Etymology Online doesn't suggest a connection, but it seems likely that there was one.

A few months ago I was at a poetry night in St Kilda. A number of poets did 'sexual innuendo' poems - ie, taking an ordinary act and making a series of puns about it to make it seem as if they were talking about sex. Then Gem got up and read out a poem that sounded like flat-out porn - I mean, it wasn't even innuendo - just honest-to-goodness sex.

The kicker came in the final lines. Turns out she was just talking about a trip to the dentist.

Link said...

The further you go into the world of the 'tool' the more reasons you'll have to get giggly. From drills to missiles and rockets, male/female sockets. Skyscrapers steeples, hardware & software, the man-made world seems predicated on one major theme.

They say that men think about sex what ? every two seconds and in a world largely constructed by them, it certainly shows.

R.H. said...
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cristy said...

I've clearly missed something somewhere... What does WEA stand for?

Have you used a staple gun? Oh I can have so much fun with ours.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Cristy, here you go.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Except that of course I'm going to the SA one.

I've done Drawing for Beginners there in the past. My sister did a course in genealogy, my mum one in carpentry, and my mate D is currently taking their early morning yoga class.

R.H. said...
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Mindy said...

If you are only using a drill occasionally, then you don't need a De Walt as RH said. If you are going to become a tradie yes, for routine home maintenance, not necessary. GMC do some good ones, Ryobi if you want a more recognised brand name.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Clarification on the drill thing, which I expressed badly: Rose was saying they were good (there was one sitting in front of us on the bench at the time, along with a Makita and a Panasonic), not recommending that we actually buy one.

I have found it interesting, over the years, that an expressed interest in tools (the real ones, I mean, not ... oh, never mind) has always drawn the response, from both men and women, that one must wants something little and dainty and girlie. No; as with most other things, one wants something of good quality that works.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Oh and Mindy, tx v much for recommendations!

lucy tartan said...

And I bet I'm not the only one here who's observed, first with shock and disgust and now with dull contempt, the floral-patterned hammers and screwdrivers and stanley knives etc that are offered for sale in various shops.

TimT said...

Ugh! They sound horrid.

R.H. said...
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