Of mice and men

People often say things to me like 'you are so clever', and 'you have such wonderful ideas', and 'you make it look so easy'.  I can't take it seriously.  This is why.



I have just spent ten hours trying to make a miniature mechanical toy.  I have a desk full of eraser shavings, metal scraps, and one seriously scorched mouse and a burnt polymer cheese to show for my efforts. 
Some days are like that.  Taking something from an idea to a product that works can mean a lot of head scratching and dead ends.
Then, just as I was about to nibble on eraser shavings and chew wires, the man came home.  He took one look at my work table, twisted a piece of wire and started talking about tolerance and play.  Not in the context of human relationships.  Remember he's an engineer...
I spent hours trying one type of fabric and another to give the gears more grip.  He asks, what about sand paper?  I spent hours trying to align every axle and gear, and get them centred.  He says, offsetting the gears will give better torsion.   Whatever that is, but I can see what he means.
So, now I have some new avenues to explore.  At this late hour I'm going to start over.   When I go to bed I will dream of dancing mice.