Time For A Change

I have been working with a very small team of volunteers on a project to modernise a bungalow which is used by spinal injury victims. Once they leave hospital in a wheelchair they move into a halfway house where they practice coping on their own but have the backup of a carer should they need it. Getting used to fending for yourself in this situation is no easy task and it obviously helps to have equipment that works. The charity that looks after these houses is called Aspire and we started working with them around twelve months ago with the intention of building up a network of tradesmen and women across the country. Each team could then look after its regional homes. It was a good idea but we failed to get the volunteers in any appreciable number. There just isn't the glamour.



Of course there is one sure fire way of getting volunteers and that is to get some television cameras in there. Even better, turn it into some sort of game or challenge. The bungalow we are working on was originally converted by another team of volunteers under the stewardship of Aneka Rice. This was probably the first of the genre of television makeover shows and the intentions of those who gave up their time were honourable, but judging by the results the whole team was put under impossible time pressure, and had to work through the night to turn the job around in time for the prancing Aneka to arrive fresh faced in her helicopter.



Considering the corners that had to be cut to meet the impossible deadlines, the building has stood up very well. The wet room less so, but wet rooms were in their infancy then and there just wasn’t the necessary kind of equipment around. That said the leaks around the tray were due to the fact that it was bedded-in on mastic and was never going to support the weight of a person and a powered wheelchair. The leaks made the joist rotten and the whole thing was a festering mass of decay. It didn’t help that the shower walls were lined with plasterboard stuck on top of wallpaper with tile adhesive. I can imagine the conversation that must have gone on as the guys discovered that, at four in the morning, they had run out of board adhesive. They then turned to the only adhesive they had and to be fair it lasted over twenty years.



Given that Challenge Aneka wasn’t a live show you have to wonder why it was so vital that the work was completed on time. The precedent they set in this impossible 48 hour makeover, or whatever it was, gave rise to Changing Rooms, DIY SOS and several other shows of this ilk. Most people watching them have some idea that they are watching a bodge job and that may even be part of the appeal but television executives believe that audiences will not put up with the pace of a job done in a realistic time schedule. They may well be right, but what few of them realise is that there is a knock on effect. Customer’s now expect their kitchen, bathroom or even loft conversion to be finished in a week.



This rush and tear culture is everywhere now and there is no going back. Every travel show now has a time beating element in it. A young lad cycles around the world and the only value is to do it faster than anyone else. He hasn't got time to lift his head and enjoy the view of stop and chat to the people he passes which would have made much better television than the sight of him pedalling furiously. And television is seeking out new subjects and ideas. We now have face lifts and even serious medical operations served up as infotainment. It is fascinating stuff but the pace is perhaps a little slow. Six hours for a triple heart by pass is surely too much. What they need is a girl with a clipboard and stopwatch cajoling them. Aneka where are you?


Roger Bisby
www.selfbuilder.net