Ladies, you really must learn these life skills

You are driving (or walking) home in an evening and a beautiful woman besides her Toyota Prado flags you to a halt – or seems like she is whisking away a fly from her face, flailing her hands in a rather lazy manner.

Of course, no self-respecting man would be caught leaving a “stranded” woman on the roadside. After all, are men not wired to help women, or so they think?

The car just stalled

You briskly walk to her, enquire what the problem could be. “The car just stalled” or perhaps “I just got a puncture”. You assess the situation. In a few minutes, you will be working hammer and tongs, replacing the tire, or following up the electrical systems from the battery, to see if the terminals are loosely connected or whether the dashboard lights are on and whether the terminals have deposits on them.

In your car, you have a piece of sandpaper. You use it to clean the terminals and yippee, the car starts. She pays you with a generous smile and zooms off. A local mechanic would have made kill out of her for “repairing” the car. Or rather, she has this notion that she cannot do simple tasks on her own.

Call from your better half

Your woman calls you. She sounds agitated and although you have deadlines to meet, you listen attentively to what she has to say. The way she sounds is as if skies are caving in. You reckon or the World War III has just been announced over the radio. “Honey, we are in the dark.” You ransack your brains for the last time you purchased electricity (LUKU) on your mobile phone. It turns out that it is only a couple of days since you bought it.

You tell her to calm down and check on the metre. She gets back to you confirming that the reading on the metre has power units to take you through the month.

You mull over it for some time and text her. Please check on the main switch. She does not know what it is and gets back to you. The power just tripped but she does not even know where to find the fuse box. You calmly direct her.

No pun intended but you certainly have heard that what a man can do, a woman can do better. Whether true or not, experience tells me that there are things women cannot do unless prodded by circumstances but the first instinct is to pick up the phone for help. It does not have to be that bad. There are a number of life skills that every woman should learn.

Changing the fuse

Your power could trip (automatically switch off) as a result of an overload or short circuiting. You might also be able to perhaps change a bulb (most women call neighbours to do this). Thumb rule is that you should know where the fuse box is located and how to shut off the right switch for each room of your home.

Driving a manual car

This is not only exciting to the woman driving the car but it is also impressive to watch a woman shifting gears. Lately, since the advent of automatic cars, even men don’t fancy manual cars. Someday, you might have to drive it. Better get accustomed to it.

Changing wheels

Most women unscrew bolts clockwise.

Give your daughter a screwdriver or a spanner. Unscrewing or screwing a screw or a bolt will take a century. A three-year boy will look at it, reason it out and accomplish it in seconds. It takes exactly ten minutes for an average man to change a car tire. Comprehension of how mechanical things work takes lesser time in boys than in girls. Try to learn the art of changing wheels.

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