Last winter I had got up in the early part of 2 a.m. to some strange kind of sound which did not exactly take shape at the beginning. It was like rain, but indoors. My brain had not yet processed it, and water was spreading on the floor of the kitchen. Every common sense in that instance was thrown to the wind. I was not planning about prices or reviews or even recommendations. I simply required a person I could rely on, who could be quick, and close at hand.
I recall that I was standing there in socks with phone in hand typing, to local plumbers near me and hoping internet would somehow make sense of the need to get it done. What was later to impress me was not as much who called, but how much trust I had on a stranger because of the fact that s/he answered the phone without panic and spoke with the tone of an actual person. We need not hurry, we need not dramatize, we need only to be confident.
When all the work was done, and the adrenaline had subsided I continued to think about how we never discuss the invisible roles that people have in our lives. Plumbers, electricians, mend-men--we hardly ever pay any attention to them. However, when something goes wrong, they get to be a part of your personal story in a remarkably concrete manner. They are present when your house is feeling weak, you are exhausted, overweighted and you simply need things to be all right once more.
It also triggered me to consider the way communities operate particularly local communities. Thrust is not about fancy words and ideal pictures. It is a result of appearing, doing the job and leaving the place a little better than you had it. Even many years afterwards, those moments remain with you.
Funny, too, how a sluke pipe will make you come to a crawl at such a rate as to see how much we depend on each other.
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