IF YOU’VE NEVER seen a tinkering video, picture a middle-aged bloke in a shed, unctuously dismantling an old Walkman, and then, "just for fun", putting it back together. The vibe is essentially an anoraky edition of The Repair Shop, but filmed on a smartphone, that for half its duration is solely a close-up of a hook spring.
I’ve met tinkering-type guys before: handing out flyers at antiques fairs, manning miniature railways, volunteering at community radio stations…they’re amiable enough chaps, but I am not one of them. I’m neither intrinsically intrigued by how things work, nor worry that the world is moving so quickly I must retreat to my mancave, surrounded only by objects that can be mended with a screwdriver.
I embrace technology. I prefer contactless payment to cash, streaming music to owning music, and Beyond Burger to Big Macs. And yet, after a few hours in the virtual company of tinkerers, I found myself becoming increasingly drawn in.
Partly, I suspect, this is because the items typically featured in the videos are so relatable: a battered control for a Nintendo Wii, a junked cast iron pan, an Epson dot matrix printer. This isn’t restoring a Rembrandt; this is the stuff we all have in our attics.
This story is from the September 2023 edition of Reader's Digest UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2023 edition of Reader's Digest UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME
Do you want to save 1.5 seconds every day of your life? According to the dishwasher expert at the consumer organisation Choice, there’s no need to insert the dishwashing tablet into the compartment inside the door.
May Fiction
An escaped slave's perspective renews Huckleberry Finn and the seconds tick down to nuclear Armageddon in Miriam Sallon’s top literary picks this month
Wine Not
In a time of warning studies about alcohol consumption, Paola Westbeek looks at non-alcoholic wines, how they taste and if they pair with food
Train Booking Hacks
With the cost of train travel seemingly always rising, Andy Webb gives some tips to save on ticket prices
JOURNEY TO SALTEN, NORWAY, UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN
Here, far from the crowds, in opal clarity, from May to September, the sun knows no rest. As soon as it’s about to set, it rises again
My Britain: Cheltenham
A YEAR IN CHELTENHAM sees a jazz festival, a science festival, a classical music festival and a literature festival. Few towns with 120,000 residents can boast such a huge cultural output!
GET A GREEN(ER) THUMB
Whether you love digging in the dirt, planting seeds and reaping the bounty that bursts forth, or find the whole idea of gardening intimidating, this spring offers the promise of a fresh start.
Under The GRANDFLUENCE Suzi Grant
After working in TV and radio as an author and nutritionist, Suzi Grant started a blog alternativeageing.net) and an Instagram account alternativeageing). She talks to Ian Chaddock about positive ageing”
Sam Quek: If I Ruled The World
Sam Quek MBE is an Olympic gold medalwinning hockey player, team captain on A Question of Sport and host of podcast series Amazing Starts Here
Stand Tall, Ladies
Shorter men may be having their moment, but where are the tall women?
