Good news :-)

[The Medway Handyman]

People 'lack confidence to tackle DIY jobs'

[Broadback]

More good news, Homebase are doing very badly, they say that the younger generation are no i into D-I-Y.

[Cursitor Doom]

And the reason they're "not into" DIY is because they're no longer home- owners until much, much later in life. Instead they live with their parents or rent and in either case, everything's done for them. Now there's a trend I wish I'd spotted years ago. Could have made a few quid from buying Shed 'puts.' ;-)

[Adrian Caspersz]

Another one. When we had a manufacturing interest menfolk often brought their occupation skills to use at home. Now we have a service industry they bring home the credit card for buying things ready made.

And another. There are less ingenious geeks being born and reaching full term, they are being turned by big business to becoming consumers - in most cases way too early. Consumers, by the very sense of the word, don't create.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I also wonder if it starts at a very young age.

Boys who played with Meccano might well grow up to enjoy constructing things. Not sure the simpler contruction toys give the same insight into how things work.

And then there's computers. So many these days think they are the answer to everything. But try getting one to joint two bits of wood together. ;-) Although being able to draw out a plan for that easily is one of the things I love about mine.

[Bob Eager]

More importantly, those who *are* into DIY tend not to use Homebase!

[Andy Cap]

And another one is that they're told from a young age, that every thing's going to kill them !

Andy C

[Davey]

A Hornby-Dublo train set and a box of Meccano parts were all you needed for a good start in life. A library of World Book Club titles built up by my Dad didn't hurt, either.

[Dave Liquorice]

constructing

insight

Donno, I didn't do to bad with lego. Couldn't afford Meccano, though I had a little bit. This is 1960's Lego as well not todays Lego with Technic and NXT. The lad has loads of technic and an NXT set, does he play with it nope, builds things in Minecraft instead. Not just buildings but "things" like launchers or an 8 bit binary adder complete with in/out registers etc.

As has been mentioned most are conditioned these days to be "consumers" and that the statement "No user serviceable parts inside" is true. So if something breaks you throw it away and buy another one. No thought that it could be repaired for the price of a screwdriver and 10 p component.

[Tim Streater]

Best I could manage was a 1-bit adder built using relays my bro had brought back from the Navy. He also gave me soldering iron (only packed up a year or two ago) and solder, a lot of which I still have. I was able also to mend the wartime Ministry of Supply radio that had packed up (needed a new diode - I used an OA81) and another wire had become disconnected. It whistled a lot but was OK for listening to Radio Luxembourg and that Alan Freeman.

[Cursitor Doom]

Whilst that is perfectly true, some things certainly CAN kill you. I am about to start fault-finding on an early 70s Tek storage scope which has had a failure in the EHT section (probably a blown cap). Anyway, 7kv is lurking behind a mesh cage with a big warning sign on it. Not looking forward to prodding around within that. If you never hear from me again, you'll know why.

[MM]

I've been mending things since I was 12 back in the 1950s and my mum let me "fix" her Suffolk Punch. I decoked it, ground in the valves and it started first time after that. Often I'd take it to bits just to see how it worked. Later aged 13/14 I branched out to my first car, a

1934 Morris 8, which of course I couldn't drive, but it provided no end of tinkering.

Then I did a 7-year apprenticeship as a motor fitter, got my C & G, moved to Germany and worked for Ford-Werke for over a decade. There I started tinkering with the first word processor Ford acquired. Then I discovered I could program it with MBasic on an 8" floppy the service engineer gave me. Later still I moved into computer support with another company and finally ended my working life as a computer programmer for Hallmark. That old lawnmower has a lot to answer for. I actually bought one about three years ago. Bloke near me seems to have an endless supply of old cylinder mowers which he does up and sells for £60.

Right now I make furniture and fix loose fence posts.

MM

[MM]

I watched a repair engineer from the National Grid at work on a powerline nearby (not a very large pylon, just the "telephone pole" kind) and he had on the thickest rubber gloves I've ever seen. I believe he said they don't need to switch off the power then if it's a simple repair.

MM

[MM]

Ruddy rip-off merchants. I wouldn't go near the place.

MM

[Brian Gaff]

A lot of it is we don't have the stamina these days. I built a fence once, damn nearly killed me. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

These things tend to go in phases. Half the time its what they do not learn at school. back in the early 60s we were taught woodwork and metalwork skills and how to do things safely, though unfortunately the angle grinder had not become a universal tool in those days. Brian

[Cursitor Doom]

I saw one of those get shorted out by a tree branch one time back in the

70s. They don't look very capable, but this particular line carried 33kv and god knows how much current. I still recall it being like an atom bomb going off!

[Cursitor Doom]

Same here. Fencing is hard graft.

[Cursitor Doom]

The culture has deteriorated, though. Routine use of knives and guns to kill others nowadays is commonplace, especially in large cities; never happened in my day. We believed it was cowardly to resort to weapons and shame surrounded their misuse. The pickaxe handle was just coming into use as I left my teens behind and I guess that was the rot starting to set in.

[Dave Liquorice]

pole"

I was wondering if they did live working at 11 kV, 230 V yes. Poles can carry 230, 11 kV or 33 kV. I think the next step up is 125 kV that tends to be carried on pylons.

But anyway the short circuit current on a line will be measured in kA, lets say your branch offered a resistance of 10 ohms, I = V/R =

3,300 A or over 100 MW.

100 MW being disipated in one place will make a bit of bang. B-)