Thoughts on illiteracy

Since we started travelling overseas to countries that do not use our alphabet, it has become increasingly clear to me that to be illiterate reduces your interaction in the comminuity considerably. It causes HUGE frustration and, if I were of a different disposition, great angst! Take shopping for instance - the words don't mean a thing so you have to go by pictures. So what exactly is in a tin with a lovely lady smiling and holding something orange in her hand? Could they be carrots? Or peaches? Or mangoes ? or even pumpkin? A quick look across the shelf and I notice that this is THE shelf for vegetables. So remove mangoes and peaches from the list of possibles (and oranges too, if that's just crossed your mind) and you have a choice. So, if it's carrots - that's OK but I'm not a fan of tinned carrots. If it's pumpkin, well I can use that in soup if push comes to shove. So I put them in the trolley. This scene and thought process is repeated across the store and you have to hope that there hasn't been a lazy shelf stacker who put the tin there out of convenience to him rather than logic!

I have just spent a whole hour and half trying to assemble an office chair. The chair is a lovely, black chair on wheels which, in the shop, was fully assembled and ready to use. Today it was delivered, on time and as agreed . The chair is now in a rather large and heavy box. It is in five major pieces accompanied by fifty five screws and washers all of varying size - and the thoughtful manufacturers have also included a small bolt tightener. It's OK though because it comes with fully comprehensive instructions - all in Japanese. There are diagrams that almost resemble the pieces in front of me so we may get close.

So, different sized bolts and screws then ...... hmmmm. Those of you who know me well know that I am spatially challenged (no Ryan, that doesn't mean I take up a lot of space!) It means I cannot park a car and I have no idea how big anything is. This serious flaw in my make up does come in handy sometimes but not this time.

I won't bore you with the details but I am sure you can imagine the scene. I tried this bolt, then that bolt, then this bolt with that washer and so on. Fifty five times ..... If you're good at statistics you will have worked out the possible number of combinations and it's a lot.

The final ignominy of all this is that having worked it all out and got something that resembles a chair standing in the lounge, I place the top bit on top of the bottom bit and all the wheels fall off. Aaaaaaaagh!