I apologize for my extremely ignorant sounding title but I casually browsed an article in The Guardian a few months back it had nothing to do with plumbing but there was a quote:
We still do our own plumbing. ..is kind of like hiring a plumber, you just don’t fucking do it.
It didn't stand out at the time but in the past few months that quote has lived rent free in my head and I can't stop thinking about it!
by TravisFantina
3 comments
Don’t be daft, of course people hire plumbers. It would be silly to think every single person in the nation just happens to know how to or care to do their own plumbing. Doing simple maintenance or work on your property isn’t that uncommon. However I don’t know if Icelanders do it more than any other nationality.
That article is really pushing the angle that Iceland is all fun and quirky and oh-so stereotypically free minded. A sexual utopia of sorts. We’re more liberal with it than a lot of cultures, sure, but it’s still a stereotype. Don’t take statements made by random people in their 20’s as objective fact.
Then again, I don’t know him. Maybe he has never hired a plumber in his life. However, I’m not going to replace a toilet on my lonesome with a Youtube video as a weapon. I’m calling a plumber.
What *is* Icelandic is that you probably call a specific plumber you personally know, likely the one plumber in your extended family.
I’ve tried to hire a plumber here and it is borderline impossible they’re few and far between.
However, plumbers and electricians here are protected classes meaning that no one can undertake in those types of projects professionally without having paperwork to prove they know what they’re doing.
If I did my own plumbing I would be up to my ears in shit.