We are builders
by William on 2009-06-21
Rebecca and I spent Saturday morning and early afternoon building our new kitchen table. Here is a 6000+ word essay describing this adventure:
The table came in two boxes, helpfully labeled “1” and “2”. We are thoughtful, plan-ahead types, so we deliberately opened box 1 first. It seemed like the numerically obvious place to start. Lest you think this was going to be a straightforward operation, there were no instructions in box 1.
Thankfully, we found the instructions in box 2. If we hadnʼt, I donʼt know where we would have looked. Here Rebecca is having a good laugh at the funny Swedish people.
Perhaps “2” is Swedish for “one”?
It turns out kitchen tables are not made of wood and nothing else. We counted all the hardware pieces before we started — for we are thoughtful, plan-ahead types — and came up short one wooden dowel. After a very short, possibly frantic search, we found it inside that funny metal t-shaped tool.
We found it difficult to imagine how a pile of wood and several dozen screws could actually be turned into a table, but we plodded along, carefully following the instructions, and the table began to take shape.
Then we found out what the funny metal t-shaped tool was for: attaching the legs to the table! Those funny Swedes think of everything, donʼt they?
The table came with two extensions that hide under the top when not in use, and fit into the middle when in use. With both extensions, the table looks impossibly long. We might be able to seat my entire immediate family around it.
At least now we can seat more than four people at a time! Would you like to come over for dinner?
Of course, if you would like to come over, you will be required to put together your own chair first. I hope you can read Swedish!