Come ON, this is too much!

I went to have a look at the state of the pool after posting my last entry and I fished out the broken automatic vac from the bottom of the deep end.  I really didn't feel like going for an impromptu swim just then.  I as I hauled it out, I thought about what a shame it was that it was broken.  It's a Barracuda 2500 and it doesn't really have that many parts.  I put it back together, had a look at how the mechanism works and found the broken bit.  A simple plastic ring with two tabs to hold it to the body.  The tabs broke off at some point in the past, making the whole thing useless.  I could drive over to the store and see if they can get me the part to replace it, or, I could see if there was some way I could do it myself and make it work again.  I took it in the house, drilled two holes, inserted some #6 screws and put the whole thing back together.  Works like a charm.  I don't believe I've been staring at that thing in the shed for months and months sighing and accepting the fact that it was useless and I was powerless to fix it when all that was required was a couple of tiny screws and a somewhat functioning intellect.  Honestly, I'm starting to believe that I really haven't been using my brain all that much over the last fourteen-odd years and I've forgotten that I'm not powerless, I am able to problem solve and that I don't have to accept a situation simply because it appears to be at a dead end from a conventional standpoint.  It's so frustrating to be completely honest.  I used to be really good at this kind of thing and though it's coming back to me in fits and starts it's completely frustrating to see how incapable I'd let myself become.  I'll take a couple of photos and post them later when I have a bit more time.  Also, the only thing that makes me feel even marginally better is knowing that the previous owners obviously thought the thing was beyond repair too as there's a newer auto vacuum also in the shed.  It doesn't work either, mind you.  It has missing parts as well as broken ones, but at least I didn't shell out over $200 for a new tool when a simple fix would have made the old one usable for a bit longer.  It's not much consolation, but it's something.