Somethings Can't Be Fixed

from the teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, we learn, that if we think we can break it, then we have the power to fix it. somehow, i don't think this applies to today's world of appliances and air conditioning units. it's after 5:00p.m. and the very chatty, anglo repairman just left. he was here for almost three hours but did manage to fix the dryer. opening the dryer wasn't so mystical after all. first, he wanted to know why the dryer hadn't been serviced in seven 7 years. who knew that you had to service a dryer every two years! he then told me that he needed to replace a part that had somehow, melted down because i hadn't serviced the machine in seven years. he also told me that the electrical outlet and plug were both wired wrong. he even opened the plug to show me how it had been incorrectly wired. apparently, the brown wire which is negative, was put in the side where the blue wire, which is positive, goes and visa verse! being a lay person, i was curious to know how it was possible for the dryer to have worked at all, having been improperly wired for seven years. i'm still not sure about the answer i received. anyway, he didn't have a new plug on him, because that was back in haifa. and he didn't have a new plate to install behind the outlet , because that was also back in haifa. and he didn't have the spare part to replace the melted down part and had to buy a new one in haifa. he did say he was sorry but i was getting very frustrated. he couldn't fix the heating unit on the ceiling because it was too old. perhaps it was 11 years old. we had our heating unit in brooklyn for 40 years! but now they make the units more ecological and more environmentally friendly. which translates into having to buy new units every decade or so. i feel that i got off easy with only paying $100 to fix the dryer. he was actually able to tighten the melted down part and saved me the cost and the wait for his next monthly visit to zefat. so my heating unit is caput and a new one costs over $1000. i don't think i can swing it right now. i survived this long without it so i will have to find another way to heat that part of the house, i guess. it took the guy half a minute to open up the cover of the dryer and about a half an hour to close it again. but, lucky me, it is working again without that awful noise. we shared horror stories about bad repair jobs and bad customers for about two and a half hours. and we drank coffee and ate chocolate wafers while we reminisced about some of the old time rebbes. he finally left and it was just like saying goodbye to a shidduch that took up all your time and energy. he just called back because he mislaid his kneeling pad. i ran down the stairs and couldn't find it anywhere. so i ran back up the stairs to tell him not to schlep back to my house. why are anglo repairmen so slow? and how many anglo repairmen does it take to change a light bulb.? this one was just like the absent minded professor. first, he asked me which job he should do first. i told him to do the job that would take the longest amount of time, first. then, he asked me which i needed more: the dryer or the heating system. it felt like sophie's choice. i decided that, having heat was more valuable to me than having dry clothes. i also reasoned that clothes could dry on a rack in a heated room. i am beginning to play with the idea of bringing the dryer upstairs to help heat the room. well, in the end, the repair guy did find his kneeling pad . he just called back to apologize, once again. why is it so hard when some things can't be fixed?