TOOL STORY

Well, I did promise, although what I have to say seems too obvious really.  So I'll keep it short. It's sunny and warm - feels like time for a siesta but there's really nowhere on the boat to lie down (still not finished with head-linings) and not enough shade outside. 
    What I have learned is that there is not much that can't be achieved with the 3 essentials in the upper photo - a hammer, a screwdriver and a thing I call pincers - they are sort of Desert Island Tools.  I am sure you can add the other 5. I started to think about this when the proprietor of the boatyard at Charron arrived at the boat to take the rigging down - with a pair of pincers and nothing else except a shedload of experience.  He probably assumed I had the hammer, and I don't think we needed the screwdriver. 

    The first time I needed to get an old zinc anode off the prop shaft I couldn't think how to do it.  One of the old yard hands showed me how.  Yes, a hammer and a screwdriver. I really can't think of anything simpler or more useful, except sometimes a bigger hammer and a crosshead screwdriver. If you are the kind of person who has been around tools all your life, you know this kind of thing already, just like you know that you shouldn't mix metals or use a zinc screw where a stainless bolt would do the job better. (OK, now add an adjustable spanner to the kit.) Many women got little or no education in this kind of stuff, myself included. From what I hear on Radio 4, many men are also short on the DIY skills that their Dads took for granted. But, hey, we have the Internet. Yes, for now. 
    So lifewise, please teach your children well any practical skills you have yourself, preferably when they are still young enough to find helping you interesting and satisfying. I hope it goes without saying that gender doesn't enter into this - skills are skills.
    Of course, if you are a yachtie spending any more than a weekend away from base, you need more - some of which only come out of the box once a year - like the special thingy for getting the oil filter off. Enough - time to go and do a little gentle varnish work now the sun is a bit less harsh & I am a bit less sleepy.  
    Sorry if the tool story was boring - I had to get it out of my head. 
   COMING SOON: AL