Peril of DIY Tools

A pleasant weekend; Cat arrived, limp with a heavy cold but happy that her studies and exams are over for the summer. She carried off some of the books I'd piled up, having had another major clear out of works which I have no desire to read again. Some books can be returned to indefinitely over years, decades even. Others are a once-only experience. I can't see the purpose of storing objects which attract more dust than interest.

I'm in the process of making more space in the front bedroom as this is to become "my" room. My office will probably be in there eventually, plus more space for my painting and needlecrafts, plus (more importantly) a dedicated meditation area. I already have ideas for the decor but first I need to find new homes for that "really useful stuff" which all homes collect, like DIY tools and half-empty tins of paint.

How many DIY tools are in your home, and how often do you actually use them? And when you come to use them, isn't there always a broken bit or an "it-doesn't-quite-fit" issue to overcome? Tools and books share similar principles, in that the greater part of these collections is rarely used, gathers dust and yet inspires a reluctance in the owner to be free of them in case they "come in handy." That aeons may pass by without any urgent need for a specific item seems irrelvant to the owner, who bedrugingly shovels cobwebs aside during occasional forages into forgotten corners of crumbling boxes on sagging garage shelves. Such forages usually end in disappointment, as the retrieved tool or book is never quite right for the job anyway, and tends to result in the purchase of something new which, used once and only once, is then relegated to the pile, never to be touched again.

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