I made a meatloaf the other night, turned out delicious, incidentally, and as I was putting it in the loaf pan I noticed a small hole in the bottom of the pan. So I put it on a tray, into the oven, with no more thought to it.
Now I have been thinking back, many years, we had a man with a push cart come down our "alley" when we lived on Brown Street. He repaired pots and pans.
He had pots and pans hanging on the sides of his cart, and as he pushed it, they would rattle and make noise, so you always knew when he was coming down the alley, a distinctive rattle and clanking.
In those days we had things repaired and continued using them. No one would repair a pot today, they would just throw the old one away and go buy a new one. I still have our "chicken frying skillet" that has been in the family for many years, don't really know how long. No Teflon, just a big old iron skillet.
Now, after a lot of thought I think I remember what that repairman was called, he was a Tinker. Now someone who messes around with stuff is a Tinkerer, that is where the word came from.
I doubt that there are any Tinkers left. If there were, they would need a truck or a van, drivers license, business license probably a Federal ID or something like that, an accountant or a laptop to keep his books, a Federal Inspector to check his work, something from the board of health to indicate that his repairs are non toxic, and who knows what else he would need to protect himself. And, if he went up and down alleys and streets he would need a Police Permit so he didn't get arrested for vagrancy.
So there are no more "Tinkers."
