We all agree we need it, but we can't agree on what it is. We all agree we must fix and improve it, but we can't agree how. We all agree it will cost money, but don't want to spend it. And we all know the dangers of not taking care of it, but we still mostly just talk about it and lament its state of disrepair and put off doing anything until it falls down around our ears. While all those statements could apply to our health, our career and even our relationships, at least this week they apply to the physical pieces of our world, our infrastructure.
Usually thought of as the stuff that connects one place to another, such as roads and bridges, the definition also includes power plants and antennas and water treatment plants. More recently the current administration has pushed the envelope, redefining the term to include action on climate change and racial equality among others. Whether or not those expansive definitions make it through the meat grinder that is the legislative process is an open question.
Closer to home we've all been faced more recently with our own personal infrastructure issues. In the not too distant past they fell into three categories. There were the emergency repairs, such as those necessitated by waking up and finding there was no hot water. There were those mandated by life changing events, like the addition of a new baby. And there were the weekend projects, many of which didn't end up so well. I mean, how hard could it be to replace the dripping bathroom faucet, as water sprayed everywhere, necessitating not just a call to a plumber but also a carpenter to repair the now leaky living room ceiling.
There was also a fourth category that was all but a fiction. Those were the many projects you should do, had on a list, were meaning to get to, been asked to take care of repeatedly, but likely would never be dealt with until they became a real problem. However over the last year their status got raised. Projects that had a priority of "Sure, honey, I'll get to it next week, I just don't have the time right now" moved up the list to "Well, I've got nothing better to do and now that I'm home all day that rickety handrail is really starting to bug me." And so off you went to Home Depot to buy screws and paint and power tools with so much juice that no amateur should have one unless they have a license.
If only that were all it took. You had the time, the money, the material and the will. All that was missing was the skill. On HGTV and its ilk they make updating your bathroom or replacing your kitchen cabinets or redoing your closet look so easy. And usually the demolition part is. It's the putting it all back to together part that requires years of skill, or more likely, hours of YouTube videos.
But sometimes the straw does indeed break the camel's back, and you just have to grab a screwdriver. When the light under the kitchen cabinets flickered yet again, I had had enough and dove in. Banging on them didn't help, and so I decided replacements were in order. A little online research, and I found some new LED models that were readily available and didn't break the bank. True, it took me 2 hours when a pro would have had it done in 15 minutes, but now we don't have to make toast in the dark.
Likewise when even I had to agree that the 5 telephone jacks dangling underneath my wife's desk were annoying me. I dreaded crawling under and dissecting the rat's nest of wires that I had installed and updated over 30 years. But a funny thing came to light after I laid on my belly and studied and traced and tested what I thought was the central nerve center of our house. All those other updates we had done to wires and wireless had bypassed the mess, rendering them obsolete. And so it turned out that the jacks I had adamantly maintained over the years could not be neatened up were, well, dead. I removed every one; all that is now required is a small paint job to make it look presentable.
Maybe when I get the time.
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Marc Wollin of Bedford likes projects. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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