This morning I received a phone call from my sister asking if we would like to join them in visiting the Cape Town Book Faire. I'd wanted to go but my girlfriend and I didn't feel like going on our own, so when they offered to join us we changed our mind. However my sister wanted to stop by a specific shoe store on the way.
While perusing row upon row of boots and shoes I was stricken by the call of nature, so I excused myself and went in search of the restrooms. I went in, occupied a cubicle and went about my business. It was only when I was preparing to leave that I discovered the latch on the door was broken and had gotten stuck in the locked position. I proceeded to fiddle with the latch to try and knock something into place on the inside, but to no avail. When no alternative remained, I took out my Swiss Army knife (Victorinox Spartan pictured left) and unscrewed the lock from the door. I noted that the screws were slightly stripped, as if they'd been repeatedly removed and reinserted.
When the lock came off, I turned it over. The latch had slipped out of the little bracket holding in in line, so the locking mechanism wasn't engaging the teeth to pull open the latch. The door swung open easily and a cleaner was busy by the urinals. I called him over.
"Excuse me. This lock broke while was in there. If I didn't have my knife with me I would've been stuck. Look, the screws are damaged so I don't think it's the first time this lock has gone. Please have it replaced."
He nodded vigorously and promised his immediate attention. Whether he seized the opportunity to leave the urinals was none of my concern, as long as the matter was taken care of. As I washed my hands an oldish man, seemingly of "boer" descent, mumbled to himself, but loud enough for me to hear: "As jy ooit 'n rede nodig gehad het om 'n mes saam met jou te dra, is daai 'n goeie een." (If you ever needed a reason to carry a knife, that's a good one.)
In this modern age we underestimate the value of a simple object such as a good pocket knife. I can't think of a single day I don't use my knife for something, be it opening a package or sharpening a pencil. I've even used it to pry open a cellular phone to retrieve a SIM card when the phone was obviously not designed to be opened. For Christmas I bought my girlfriend a small Victorinox MiniChamp (pictured right), which has more feminine things such as a decent nail file, a ballpoint pen and the classic Swiss Army tweezers. I have never found tweezers quite as well suited for getting small thorns or hairs out of your skin.
My Swiss Army knife is accompanied by a Victorinox SwissCard (left) and a small sewing kit. I go nowhere without them. And for the nervous parent out there, why won't you give your son a proper knife? Until he's accidentally cut himself a few times, how will he learn how to handle a sharp object? There are many small "survival tricks" that children simply don't learn anymore. The things that the Boy Scouts or Voortrekkers would've taught them. Life skills that any man should know, even if only from a purely logical point of view, such as basic mechanics.
That's why I'm such a fan of old-fashioned toys, such as Meccano. It teaches you that everything in this world is made up of smaller things that are interlinked. When something goes wrong it's not always broken. If you know how basic mechanics or electronics work you can decipher the internal workings and fix it.
There's nothing quite like the elation of fixing something that seemed completely broken.
A book I can recommend to any parent for their son would be The Dangerous Book for Boys. Who knows, it may save your life...
While perusing row upon row of boots and shoes I was stricken by the call of nature, so I excused myself and went in search of the restrooms. I went in, occupied a cubicle and went about my business. It was only when I was preparing to leave that I discovered the latch on the door was broken and had gotten stuck in the locked position. I proceeded to fiddle with the latch to try and knock something into place on the inside, but to no avail. When no alternative remained, I took out my Swiss Army knife (Victorinox Spartan pictured left) and unscrewed the lock from the door. I noted that the screws were slightly stripped, as if they'd been repeatedly removed and reinserted.When the lock came off, I turned it over. The latch had slipped out of the little bracket holding in in line, so the locking mechanism wasn't engaging the teeth to pull open the latch. The door swung open easily and a cleaner was busy by the urinals. I called him over.
"Excuse me. This lock broke while was in there. If I didn't have my knife with me I would've been stuck. Look, the screws are damaged so I don't think it's the first time this lock has gone. Please have it replaced."
He nodded vigorously and promised his immediate attention. Whether he seized the opportunity to leave the urinals was none of my concern, as long as the matter was taken care of. As I washed my hands an oldish man, seemingly of "boer" descent, mumbled to himself, but loud enough for me to hear: "As jy ooit 'n rede nodig gehad het om 'n mes saam met jou te dra, is daai 'n goeie een." (If you ever needed a reason to carry a knife, that's a good one.)
In this modern age we underestimate the value of a simple object such as a good pocket knife. I can't think of a single day I don't use my knife for something, be it opening a package or sharpening a pencil. I've even used it to pry open a cellular phone to retrieve a SIM card when the phone was obviously not designed to be opened. For Christmas I bought my girlfriend a small Victorinox MiniChamp (pictured right), which has more feminine things such as a decent nail file, a ballpoint pen and the classic Swiss Army tweezers. I have never found tweezers quite as well suited for getting small thorns or hairs out of your skin.My Swiss Army knife is accompanied by a Victorinox SwissCard (left) and a small sewing kit. I go nowhere without them. And for the nervous parent out there, why won't you give your son a proper knife? Until he's accidentally cut himself a few times, how will he learn how to handle a sharp object? There are many small "survival tricks" that children simply don't learn anymore. The things that the Boy Scouts or Voortrekkers would've taught them. Life skills that any man should know, even if only from a purely logical point of view, such as basic mechanics.That's why I'm such a fan of old-fashioned toys, such as Meccano. It teaches you that everything in this world is made up of smaller things that are interlinked. When something goes wrong it's not always broken. If you know how basic mechanics or electronics work you can decipher the internal workings and fix it.
There's nothing quite like the elation of fixing something that seemed completely broken.
A book I can recommend to any parent for their son would be The Dangerous Book for Boys. Who knows, it may save your life...
Words:
"Tears are the weapons of the weak and the condolence of the powerful."
-Empress, Shan Sa
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