Handyman role, retrospect: D and the radio

Self-tutoring about the handyman role: the tutor recalls a great repair.

Often, when something breaks, one faces a choice: repair or replace.

Some people frown on repairs, seeing them as compromises. Yet, sometimes the repair enhances the item beyond its original condition.

My maternal grandfather, D, was superb at improving things that would break. My earliest memory of this is that he had a transistor radio, six inches by three inches by one inch (likely quite a prize at the time), whose plastic casing broke (probably dropped, and probably not by him).

He could have bought a new one, but D would have found that extravagant, boring, and disappointing. Although well off, he was thrifty; moreover, he loved irony. Therefore, the challenge of fixing the radio – and even improving it – spoke to him.

D took a couple of popsicle sticks and a couple of thick elastics. He wrapped the elastics tightly around the radio, one near its base, the other near its top. Then, one per thin side, he fed the popsicle sticks in between the elastics and the radio. It was good as new – in fact, better.

Reinforced in that way, the radio would less likely break if dropped again. Furthermore, it was easier to hold because of the elastics. The popsicle sticks and elastics, placed as they were, even enhanced the design of the radio: the repair was appealing.

I wonder whatever became of that radio – does someone still have it? They should have kept it, since it was such a part of D. He loved listening to the radio (as did my parents), and listened to that one for many years – possibly until his death.