My part time job just became full time

Like many husbands, as well as holding down a full time career job I am also employed at home as a gardener, builder, electrician, joiner, gas fitter, plumber, painter and decorator, furniture maker, toy mender, bicycle repairman, mechanic and paint and body repairer, etc etc. This I do not mind, as it came with the job description 15 years ago when I married.


What I did not expect was that 15 years forwards the single simple PC that we owned would have been replaced and added to by the explosion in technology that now means I am also an IT technician. I am, as I have previously pointed out, rapidly reaching my technology ceiling, where new gadgets are far more advanced than I can cope with. Yet my knowledge is far in excess of that of my wife – to her, a book is cutting edge, and I am frequently surprised when she is able to operate one without assistance. Apart from operating the on/off switch on any gadget she is stumped, the only exceptions being the clock and timer on the oven which baffle me completely, but she operates with aplomb, and her bedside alarm, which defies all logic anyway, having a special feature which means it goes off an hour or so after she left for work when I am on nights and just dozing off.

My superior knowledge means I get the IT job. This was easy when we had the aforementioned single PC. But my growing family has an ever increasing thirst for technology, and Dad has to look after it all, maintaining, repairing and replacing consumables.

At last count we had four PC’s, a laptop, Two SatNavs, Two PDA’s, Two Nintendo DS’s, six televisions, four printers, three mobile phones, an MP3 player, 2 Ipods, an Airwave radio, Freeview and FreeSat boxes, and three DVD players. Plus there is also the microwave, two cars and countless clocks around the house which bi-annually need my attention due to this stupid idea of moving the clocks about. Some of these things are like old friends, in that I see them frequently and know exactly what they do, and how to deal with them. The sort of old friend you’ve known since school and regularly go for a pint with. And some are like old friends, in that I see them so infrequently that I know longer know what they so, or how to deal with them. The sort of old friend you cross the street to avoid, as it’s going to be embarrassing when you can’t remember their childrens names, and don’t know that their partner died last year.

And now, thanks to Santa, two Ipod touches and a Wii console have joined them. The Wii and the Ipods want to talk to each other, and my PC’s and I can’t help feeling they are ganging up on me now. Whilst they are syncing, I am sinking beneath the workload. My part time job as IT techy is now a full time job. I come home from work and there is a list of stuff to do before I go back to work.

Of course all these things are supposed to make life easier, and more fun. And I suppose they do, for everyone else, except me. I think I’d be better off with a biro, and a notepad.