Off the Handle

A somewhat heavy handed decorator managed to break the handle on the garage door, and my attempt at fixing it with Araldite and No More Nails has failed miserably. Thankfully, spares are readily available, but ordering from the official Garador site would incur a delivery charge of £12. Which seemed a bit steep on a handle costing £16! The local company I originally bought the door from is only open two days a week these days due to covid, but phone calls go through to their head office in Warrington.
And they couldn’t have been more helpful. Knew exactly what I was after, had it in stock and would post it out free of charge. However, it would be too big to fit through the letter box and there would possibly be no one in over the last few days. I really didn’t want to come back to a red card from the postman, which would necessitate a special trip into town, so asked if they could send it to the local branch as it’s only a few minutes drive away. Not a problem and I was told I could pick it up this morning between 8 & 9. Except, when I arrived, everywhere was all closed up. A quick phone call elicited the information that I should look on the doorstep. I did, and there was a plastic bag with all sorts of things in it, not just the handle I wanted. Apparently, they only produce one spare handle kit, but it fits multiple doors - you just use as many bits from the bag as are needed.
And the only bit I needed was the handle - all those other parts in the picture ended up in the bin they are sitting on. It does seem a bit wasteful, but I’m sure it makes economic sense somewhere down the line. Anyway, only one screw needed to be undone to effect the replacement, so it was done in no time at all. Except I then dismantled everything completely to clean and lubricate all the moving parts - to prevent future problems - before final reassembly. Though there shouldn’t be any future problems - the handle has obviously undergone a redesign in the past 15 years as it looks considerably stronger than the one that broke. But I may just be tempted to go down the “remote control, electrically powered” route at some point in the future, for ease of use in our dotage!