First, I think most of us are familiar with the fact repairs take time, usually longer than new installs. And it commonly takes longer to remove the current piece (or what keeps it in place) than it does to reverse the steps once you've gotten to the replacement stage. Perhaps this is a generalization on hill-climbing, where to climb a hill takes longer than to fall down that hill.
Today's repair was a single handle cartridge value replacement to stop a leaky faucet. This is not a difficult repair at all. (I had the needed cartridge model from having replaced this years before when it was leaking at the stem handle. So I had that as a head start. )
As to the actual replacement done today, initially the set screw that held the decorative handle to the valve stem was stuck. This set screw didn't not want to budge. No. When it finally did, I considered that I might have snapped it. And then with the set screw removed - the decorative handle took minutes and minutes of prying it and nudging it off with a screw driver tip, plus a hard vertical pull.)
After these stuck pieces were separated, the rest was textbook (erh, YouTube step X). And it reminded me of how much plumbing repairs can be like IT repairs. (Yes, it usually takes longer than you thought it would.) Specifically, the bit about getting the parts corroded and stuck to move, so one can advance with the needed replacement. In IT repairs getting to the replacement can be stymied by the inertia in the system. And you can place blame, but really it is just inertia in the system. While adventure awaits, inertia is always there, too.
