Stitch me up: how my dad the carpenter is making a sustainable house for this cool couple, he hated it at first, but now feels wonderful doing something for the environment
I’m telling you, my house has been a rough place to live over the past couple of days. My dad is sort of like the barometer in our house. If he’s happy then life is wonderful and dandy and a glorious rainbows of puppies and kittens shines over the rest of the world. On the flip side, if dad is mad or upset, then so are the rest of us. That’s why this week has been so tough. Dad’s newest clients – according to him – are a real piece of work. All week he’s been moaning about how this hippie couple from who-knows-where have their hearts set on building one of the most cutting edge sustainable homes in Melbourne. He wouldn’t stop moping around complaining about how hard it is to do anything right when everything doesn’t just have to be perfect, it has to be “green” as well (his air quotations, not mine). The thing is, though, it’s pretty rough to bite my tongue and nod along when dad goes on his rants when I don’t agree. Because that’s just the thing. I don’t agree.
I guess you could say it’s a little stereotypical of me to want to save the planet, but I do. I really think that the way forward in a world that is literally drowning in fossil fumes is to have more ‘hippie’ couples, who take a good hard look and the present day’s consumerism at all costs and say enough is enough. Bringing energy efficient homes to Melbourne are the way forward in our backwards society, and the more people who can think that way, the better.
So when my dad decided to complain about how much work it was and how hard it was and yadda yadda yadda, I decided that we needed to talk. I told him how I felt about the issue and the weird thing is that I think I may actually have changed his mind. Well, at least he’s stopped complaining about it. Which is a good thing. Right?