the rule of law

The law in question is Murphy’s Law.

Have spent much of the day measuring: walls, floor and ceiling. We are planning a much needed make-over of our ensuite shower room.

We pour over catalogues and websites, visit tiles stores and bathroom showrooms. After much huffing and puffing and long into the night negotiations (I like this, but I prefer that … and so on..) that would put EU politicians to shame, we make our selection and arrive at a final shopping list. Or what we assume to be a final shopping list.

I draw up a plan of the room on graph paper and finesse the positions of loo, basin, tiles and so on. Now you might say I should have done this first. Well, I did a rough set of measurements that took some dexterity on my part, because the old fittings were still in place. But having removed them I get down on my hands and knees and measure more precisely.

That’s when I discover a flaw in our plans. I’m about an inch out on my calculations. The room is 1 inch too short to do what we want to do. Now you could be forgiven for thinking “what’s the big deal?” 1 inch is nothing. Move something. Cut a bit off.

But bathroom fittings are made of porcelain. It’s not that easy to cut a bit off. And there are pipes which go into the ground or run under floors and so are not that easy to move. So back to the drawing board. Or rather, catalogues/websites/showrooms.

In the grand scheme of things it’s not really that important. Nobody died. It’s just Murphy’s Law writ large; if something can go wrong, it will. Scholars of the Laws of the Universe might like to know that Murphy’s Law is apparently named for an American Aerospace engineer, Capt. Edward J. Murphy, who, noticing a technician wiring up a strain gauge incorrectly commented; “if there is any way for him to do it wrong, he will”.

Murphy’s Law has, by definition, a pessimistic tone. It has no redeeming features other than to bring comfort to those who spend their lives saying “I told you so”.

Unlike the similar, yet subtly different, Sod’s Law . This Law of the Universe can also offer comfort, particularly to those of us who accidentally get things right, by the addition of the following amendment; good fortune will occur in spite of the individual's actions.

Many of my blips have been the result of this particular amendment in action.