Handyman John Yates believes perfection takes time. 20 years after he began renovating his home, he has yet to finish more than 50 jobs.
When he and his wife Eleanor bought their home in the Seventies it needed only a few improvements to make it complete. But twenty years later they are still living in a building site. Long-suffering Eleanor said: “He’s got 50 or 60 jobs on the go. Nothing — absolutely nothing in the house is finished.”
Visitors to their detached home in Mickleover, Derbyshire, can see John’s DIY “talents”. Wire hangs from a hole in the wall where the bell should be. Knock on the door and it shakes. You might find what appears to be a bell inside the porch but don’t be mistaken — it’s actually the switch for the electrically-operated garage door which doesn’t work either.
When the porch door at last opens you can see the interior — doors without handles, broken windows and upside-down wallpaper. The path at the side of the house leads to an unfinished extention and is blocked by a leaning fence.
Now John’s handiwork is shown on TV’s Britain’s Worst DIYers programme thanks to his daughter Claire. She is still waiting for him to finish her bedroom, which went without a roof for 19 years. John, a 50-year old engineer, insisted his relatives were exaggerating. He is worried that after the TV show everyone is going to laugh at him.
Слова:
DIY (Do it Yourself) — сделай сам
handyman — умелец
perfection — совершенство
to renovate — ремонтировать
improvement — усовершенствование
detached home — отдельно стоящий дом, особняк
wire — проволока
porch — крыльцо
upside-down — перевернутый
extention — пристройка
leaning — покосившийся
fence — забор
to exaggerate — преувеличивать
