Experts - Zip It Up

Thank goodness for the experts. We really need them sometimes.  I mean those proper, professionals that fix things before a drama becomes a crisis, not those pretend experts saying ‘you don’t want to do it like that’.  We seem to have needed them a lot, lately, and to some expense.

I’m good with a sewing machine and a needle and thread. One of my grandmothers was a dressmaker and tailoress.  She taught me plain stitching and sewing buttons on before I was seven years old. It is in my blood. At school, I excelled in needlework classes. I have made clothes and soft furnishings for home and for gifts. I’ve happily done alterations and repairs for people at work. Hems up, hems down, take in, let out, buttons on, zips replaced and very little turned away. Recently, to my horror, I had no choice but to admit defeat and hand something over to a proper expert.

The zip had ‘gone’ on my husband’s football jacket. The one he wears to matches, with the Blackpool FC badge embroidered on the left front. He’s had it for a few years, a really warm, good jacket, still perfect, apart from the zip which I can easily replace. I bought a new zip and it sat waiting to be done. I wasn’t well enough to tackle it, but no problem. There was a hiatus in home matches, anyway. Eventually, I set myself up at the table, maximum light and everything to hand. The jacket is black which could be a problem to my eyesight, but it is a straightforward job that wouldn’t take me long. Famous last words. I spent about half an hour struggling in vain to unpick the stitching and get the old zip out. Impossible. I tried again to repair the zip itself. No chance. A quick ‘Google’ for the nearest professional repair and alteration service, and husband despatched to South Shore to drop off offending garment before the shop closed.

I had to admit failure and defeat and my pride was hurt. I’m as much an expert at this as they are – but, no, of course I’m not. Nanna Hetty might have given up, too, or she might have known another way.

The experts replaced the zip. The very well made jacket is as good as new again.

 

In recent weeks, we've needed expert car repair and a plumbing job. Things come in threes. I hope this is the end of it.

A few Haikus with an ‘expert’ theme,

 

Sucking air through teeth,

Voicing a high estimate

For an expert job.

 

Freshly laundered scrubs,

The smell of antiseptic,

Surgery prepared.

 

A home made plumb-line

And a 'How-To-Do-It' book.

Who needs an expert?

 

They know how it's done

And make it look so easy

Behind a wry smile.

 

Flashy pin-stripe suit

The expert knowledge in a

Brown leather briefcase.

 

Perfect workmanship

Of a completed good job.

Pleased with the experts.

 

Thanks for reading, Pam x