There is a saying that goes, "If you don't see a man for three days, you can look at him with renewed interest." What it means is that even if a person was a hopeless idiot before, there is a chance that he has since worked hard and become a great person, so if you meet him after a long time, don't underestimate him and think, "He's just an idiot anyway," but observe him carefully and treat him well. That's about what it means.
That said, there may be many people today who would like to complain about the word "boys" by saying, "But there are girls in this world too."
I completely agree with that opinion, because in reality, you often see boys refusing to mature, not even after three days, but even after ten or twenty years, still wearing the same hairstyle and clothes as they were back then, indulging in childish hobbies like rock and anime, taking pleasure in collecting pointless dolls and sneakers, and looking like middle or high school students but with old faces, turning into old-fashioned kids.In contrast, girls can suddenly become gyaru girls after being kids just the other day, or suddenly start studying and getting qualifications after working in a cabaret club, or get a job at a top company and build a career, or start their own business and pay hundreds of millions in taxes.Both their appearance and their personality change dramatically in a short period of time, and if you underestimate them as women, you'll be in for a terrible experience.
But sometimes guys try too. That's exactly what I'm like. Until just the other day, I was a worthless guy who, despite being old enough to understand, was too scared to call a contractor I didn't know for fear of being treated rudely and hurting my feelings, and was terrified of my house collapsing. But then, by chance, I got in touch with an old acquaintance, a contractor Shintaro Nao and I found strength in him, and he has grown in surprising ways.
I would like to talk about what kind of growth that has been.
Having said that, I would like to first talk about the repairs to the pillars, which I'm sure you are all concerned about.
In conclusion, the pillar repair was successful.
This may disappoint you, because it's not interesting. As the saying goes, "other people's misfortune is sweet," and it is entertaining to watch other people's struggles and failures from a safe distance. Novels and other such works focus on this human characteristic, vividly depicting the misfortunes of various people (including ourselves) and provide enjoyment to the reader.
So if this were a novel, I would write a story about how I failed to repair a pillar and my house collapsed, narrowly escaped, and while wandering around from place to place, I met an incarnation of Kannon, who taught me many things and helped me grow as a person, until I became a wonderful man who could call a repairman.
But this isn't a novel, so it's not very interesting, but I'll tell you the truth. The pillar was repaired successfully. The carpenter that Nao brought with him looked at the pillar, measured various dimensions, and then left. A few days later, he had arrived without me noticing, and when I went outside, I found a pile of timber at the entrance. The carpenter had repaired the pillar by cutting it down the middle, cutting out the rotten part, and then modifying the joint like a Lego block before fitting a new piece of timber at the bottom.
It's easy to write this, but watching from the sidelines, I realized that if you actually wanted to do this, it would probably require a lot of experience and training. The pillars that were joined were left bare. Seeing this made me feel uneasy. That's because Nao had said that the decay was probably caused by rainwater getting on the pillars, and I thought that without the paint coating, they would quickly rot again.
So I became so anxious that I would hyperventilate, and so worried that I would hyperventilate, I held my chest with my right hand and my head with my left, leaned forward slightly, bent my knees slightly, stood on my tiptoes and turned left and right, making a fool of myself like an idiot practicing Michael Jackson. And so, worried that the carpenter would look down on me if he saw me in such a disgrace, I really did start to hyperventilate, which only spurred on Michael.
But the carpenter was a kind man. Despite the state I was in, he didn't call the police and instead comforted me by saying, "A painter will come in a few days and paint it over." This helped to ease my anxiety a little, and I was able to behave like a normal outcast in society, and even say things like, "Thank you very much."
However, just as I was thinking that such words were only a temporary relief, a few days later, a painter really did come and painted not only the repaired areas but also the other existing pillars. A solid coating of paint was created, so I think that there will be no risk of insect damage or decay for the time being.
The thought of "for the time being" crosses my mind, and I can't help it again. Of course, it'll be fine for five years or so. But what about ten years from now? The last time these pillars were painted was about fifteen years ago. And this house was completed forty-five years ago. I don't know how to calculate that, but in forty-five years from now, it will definitely have rotted away. I probably won't be alive by then, so the rest is history.
Because it was joined in the middle, it will probably last less than a single pillar, and there are four pillars in total in this protruding part (where the entrance is sunken), two of which were rotten, which is why this repair was carried out.
There is no guarantee that the unrepaired parts will not continue to decay internally, and in some cases, they may rot and collapse in ten years, or even next year. With that in mind, there is no time to be working, and we must come up with a solution as soon as possible. But what should we do? Will Kannon or Kobo come and do something about it? I like to blame others.
As I was standing there, daydreaming about such random things, it started to rain. At first it was just a drizzle, but before I knew it, it had turned into a downpour, and the raindrops falling from the eaves looked like a waterfall. The drops landed on the retaining wall made of natural stone, and the spray reached me, who was standing at the entrance a short distance away. The pillars near the retaining wall looked as if they had been doused with water from a hose.
I immediately thought, "This is it, this is the cause." If so much water gets on it every time it rains, it's no wonder it rots. But why is so much rain falling from the eaves? There must be gutters to prevent this, and when I thought about it, I saw that there were indeed gutters. However, they only went up to about halfway up the eaves, and there were no gutters beyond that, so the rain was falling like a waterfall from the eaves, hitting the rocks of the retaining wall and splashing down on the pillars like waterfall spray.
"No good."
I screamed, but instead of getting dark like before, I sent Nao a message on LINE saying that I wanted to ask for advice about the rain gutters. Nao replied at lightning speed. After finishing my conversation with Nao, I had regained enough composure to say, "I have no choice but to focus on the rain gutters for a while. I don't have the time to work," and took a beat before saying no. I was no longer the same person I was three days ago. As I thought this, I felt the signs of autumn approaching.
