Useful friends

I don't think most people choose friends because they are useful, but it is a nice surprise when they turn out to be so. Two of mine saved me quite a bit of money and hassle today by coming over and working out how to change the drainage hose on my washing machine. The manual had been conspicuously silent about what would seem to be a fairly simple task, thus leading my husband to assume we would need to call (and pay for) a service-person to come out. Fortunately, I mentioned it to these two friends and they said they would take a look at it, and like me wondered how hard changing the hose could be. Unlike me, though, they are strong (for manoeuvring the machine into an open place to work on it) and repair-savvy (I will coin that as a state of being, if it's not already done). They knew what they needed to do, what tools to use and how to go about it without breaking anything. I even learnt new things about my washing machine (there's a huge cement lump in it for weight and balance) and plumbing components (some are rubber and some are hard plastic, and although they look the same, they are not). I suppose what's even luckier is that until early this year, I didn't know either of them. They are friends of friends who moved here on a working holiday visa and will shortly be going traveling again. They will be missed (and for much more than their generous appliance repair skills)!