Give praise to the day at evening, | to a woman on her pyre,
To a weapon which is tried, | to a maid at wed lock,
To ice when it is crossed, | to ale that is drunk.
-Havamal verse 81
This weekend a friend of mine texted "About to do what I hope is the last suspension related job on this thing. It SEEMS like it will be easy and only take an hour or two..."
I texted him back, '"The last job.” “It’ll be easy!” “Only an hour or two.” You’re already ******.' The original was not censored.
Sure enough, he broke a bolt off inside the hole, and had to go buy a new cobalt extractor kit because it was a high grade bolt.
I had a good shop day on Sunday. My son and I worked on three different motorcycles, just making minor adjustments and doing preventative maintenance and tune-up work like swapping spark plugs. I didn't say anything good about it, though, until it was all over.
The Havamal didn't come down to us, even with the filter of Christian scholars writing it down centuries after conversion, as a book of commandments. It's not a set of prohibitions either, like the rules surrounding Kosher or Halal foods. It was apparently just intended as a collection of good advice. You don't have to do any of it, and the Wild Hunt isn't going to come get you if you don't; but things somehow seem to go better if you do.
1 comment:
It is appropriate to give thanks after successfully performing some difficult or potentially disastrous job. No predictions though. Just gratefulness.
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