Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Adrian Chiles

At the age of 58, I’ve bought my first drill. Can it make me a new man?

A man drills into a wall
‘My place is going to resemble a Swiss cheese!’ Photograph: Posed by model; AzmanL/Getty Images

I bought a drill. It is yellow. It is my first drill. I bought it because I’m 59 next month and thought it was about time. It’s nearly a half a century since I joined the rest of the world in giving up on myself when it came to practical skills. My brother, who is younger, was good at that stuff, which I wasn’t. He was also very good at Lego, which I wasn’t. What I was good at was unclear. Reading, possibly. Anyway, he was the practical one and I wasn’t and that was the end of it. And, in the way of these things, this truth got truer as time went on.

And I’ve got sick of it, not in the sense of feeling emasculated or anything, just bored by my hopelessness, bored of bothering and/or paying people to do things. I don’t want to do anything particularly advanced. I just want to be able to drill a hole.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.