So, what tools would you send?

[charles]

but you can make duct tape narroer than its original 2".

[HVS]

On 15 Aug 2021, S Viemeister wrote

Definitely mains operated. Battery drills are a real blessing if they're used regularly or away from a power point, but they're impractical for people (like me and, I'm guessing, someone in a house-share at university) who aren't going to use a drill more than, say, every few months or so.

In the range of bits, I'd include some standard screw-bits so that the drill can double as a powered screwdriver when they want to power-screw.

(Stop that thought right now.)

[John Rumm]

TBH, since he is starting out in halls of residence, I can't see a drill being that necessary at the moment - or at least only likely to be for rapid threaded fastener driving.

However while what you say of battery drills may have been true with NiMh or NiCd batteries, but does not IMHO really apply to modern LiIon ones - they will hold a charge for a very long time and can be recharged very quickly.

Also it means you have have a much smaller lighter drill, better suited to light drilling and screwdriver use.

[Bob Eager]

Oftem spelled (and pronounced), in the Navy at least, as a 'hussif'.

[S Viemeister]

Often spelled as 'hussif'.

[S Viemeister]

Pronounced and spelled that way in museums, too.

[ARW]

TBH the first thing I did in halls of residence was to bypass the communal pay phone.

[ARW]

In other words she knew what to do with their pink tools.

[newshound]

Pay phone? What's a pay phone?

[ARW]

Now phones with dials.I bet you were taught how to call 999 with the lights not working.

I passed a cream coloured telephone box this morning.

I actually used one last year. No mobile signal and I needed an address from work.

[Scribbles]

Cream coloured? You're in Hull where they do things differently from the real world?

[Bob Eager]

WE used the trick with a diode in one line. You could dial in the money.

[ARW]

In the posh part. Swanland.

I fancied a change from working in HMP Humber.

And when your drive through Swanland in a morning it's like the film The Truman Show.

[Nick Odell]

Now you mention it, I generally take my own duct tape, re-rolled onto a small, plastic rod. That's for emergency backpack repairs rather than any plan of mine to be useful at my destination.

Nick

[Nick Odell]

Good point. Another thing I'd forgotten. I usually carry a mini sewing kit in a 35mm film canister. If you've still got 35mm film canisters - or like me, are still using film.

Nick

[billy bookcase]

Sorted!

bb

[ARW]

Or make the person you were calling pay for the call.

The wiring diagram for that was in Dodworth library on the wall above the telephone.

[ARW]

WD40. If for nothing more than making sure the stolen shopping trolley wheels do not squeak at 3 am and upset the neighbours.

[S Viemeister]

God, you're crude.

[Bob Eager]

A friend of mine did the diode thing and it was a work of art. He disconnected the cable from the phone and fed it back down through the floor. He then entered the service ducts (we did exploration down there) and removed the other end from a junction box. Took it back to his room and, in a delicate surgical operation, managed to insert the diode in such a way that it was covered by the outer insulation.

Then he put it back.