My little sister recently turned 30 (this makes me feel slightly old, since she is the baby of the family; I imagine it makes my mum feel older) My sister's partner sent me a list of things she wanted for her birthday (outdoor furniture, a wheelbarrow and a weed eater) this list was an absolute horror to me! What sort of presents are these? Where are the frivolous things? Anyway, after much searching for a present, me and my mother decided upon a piece of outdoor furniture (I also got her a little something frivolous because I just couldn't stand it) The joy of the outdoor furniture present really didn't occurred to me until my mother and her two sisters tried to put it together. First they all gathered around the instructions saying things like "g goes into e2 clockwise, where is e?" "which way is up?" "which one is left or right?, Oh I don't think that really matters" My aunties abandoned the project after this conversation got them utterly no where. My mother started putting the bits back in the box.
However, my mother is not one to let anything defeat her so easily; she had a plan. A glass of wine it seemed would help her be able to navigate those tricky instructions - so she got right back on it with a glass of wine in hand. Now not only did she have only one hand but a muddled brain to help her put it together - that sounds like just the ticket!
Strangely she found this was not the ticket at all, and she abandoned it so she had both hands available to down the all the bottles of wine that are so abundant at a 30th birthday party.
My sister's partner and his step father took over (making all woman present seem like we were unable to read and decipher instructions) and after an hour or so they managed to get it all together. Abracadabra - one put together birthday present and one amusing time had by all observers.
Your mother knows a truth that only we old, wiser people know - go for the wine and some young eager beaver will put the outdoor furniture together. We older people often laugh about this 'philosophy of the order of what is important', but never when young people are within earshot.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It always works a treat at BBQ's. There's always some young dudes who want to give it a go. I hand them all the tools and leave them to it and go off to enjoy a glass of wine.
ReplyDeleteI like how, in that last picture, the background is full of women walking away from the outdoor furniture towards the wine.
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