Back On The Tools. (adapted from “An Old-time Plumber”)


Sorry to my readers and followers for my lack of blogging this week … The old plumber/poet traded his quill in for his old rusty spanner and dirty hammer …
Drawing Above: done for me by Rose in 2017 – https://poetrummager.org/

Back On The Tools. (adapted from “An Old-time Plumber”)

I’ll be seventy-five in July
Could I actually do the task?
Am I physically strong enough?
Am I mentally sharp and able enough
To endure four to five days of hard work?

Surprise, surprise – I have survived the first three days.
The job is nearing completion, and the client is suitably pleased,
And I am home beside the fan, enjoying a cold glass of beer.
Although when I finished, it was nearly dinner time,
And my back was stiff as red-gum bark –
But a job stamped by my old-time quality trademark.

Before I can wrap up the job and rest on the weekend,
I’m waiting for a made-to-order cover panel
Which, unfortunately, will conceal all of my handiwork.







Ivor Steven ©  February 2026

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ivor20

G'day, and welcome to my blog site. My name is Ivor Steven, I live in Geelong, Australia. I'm an ex-industrial chemist, and a retired plumber, and a former Carer of my wife(Carole), for 30 years, who suffered from severe MS. I Write poetry about those personal thoughts, throughout and beyond my life as a Carer. I've been blogging for over 2 years, and writing poems for 19 years. Of course a lot of my poems are about my favourite subject Carole, but since I've been blogging my writings have become quite varied, humourous, mystical, observational, and even a few monster/horror poems.

18 thoughts on “Back On The Tools. (adapted from “An Old-time Plumber”)”

    1. It was mission impossible, like trying to get a square peg into a round hole, these concealed cisterns are in new houses before the plaster goes on , and the old cistern was 45 years old … so nothing was same … yes it was tough task, there were lots of hidden obstacles … anyhow, the job is nearly done ✅ 🌏😄

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    1. My old client is a lucky man … most plumbers would have told him “no way “, and ripped everything out and installed a complete new toilet suite… the wall would then need replastering and painting … 😊😄

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  6. Good for you, Ivor. You still got it!!

    I had a similar experience a few weeks ago. I had a discolored ring in the vinyl around the commode. Decided to replace the wax ring. Then decided I needed to put down new vinyl as well. All went well until the push on water outlet began to drip. Went to the hardware store and bought a Sharkbite water line outlet. Cut off the old one and pushed this one on and it sealed nicely! Amazing!

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    1. Yeah, those ‘sharkbite’ fittings are really amazing, Dwight … but there was no easy way for me, the job was almost ‘mission impossible’ 😄😊

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