‘Lash up’ is a term my dad used to use to describe some piece of work that was shoddily done to the point where more work would be needed on account of the work than on account of the problem it was trying to solve in the first place. He used to ‘dish up’ (fix and cover the cracks with goop) motor vehicles, clocks, wristwatches and leather lugguage, etc. and believe me, he should know.
I wish I had a camera with me today to capture the scene Im going to try and desceibe now.
Next to Tala Quick Petrol Staton was a truck. The big sort of truck you could fill with building stones or a LOT of cabbages. Heavy stuff! The truck had all its wheels and windows (I think), some rusty wheel-arches of the luxuriant style preserved in third world countries but shunned by modern vehicle manufacturers; perhaps because they resemble the extra folds of fat that we men approaching middle age acquire in the belt vicinity.
Wait! go back! Let’s take a closer look at those wheels. The back one on the left side is tied on isn’t it?
‘Tied on’, get real, this is a truck for taking heavy things on poor roads, you cant ‘tie’ its wheels on.
I might not have noticed this if I hadn’t just walked past a welding fundi who had clearly just welded some wheel bolts back on to a similar truck and was in the process of replacing a wheel and hoping that the shining new threaded studs would like up with the holes in it. But this one was just parked by the petrol station.
Look at the wheel, there are no nuts holding it on. There are, in fact, no bolts either. There’s a big rough-cut hunk of reddish wood and its tied there by several knotted pieces of rope that wind their ways through the bolt holes in the wheel, and back. It’s not even nylon rope, it’s the whispy, hand-woven sisal stuff.
How far did this truck come with its wheels tied on?