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Living—-as we have until now—-in rented property we’ve never really collected a great deal of tools, other than those needed to repair and maintain bicycles. But we’re hoping to be able to do some work on our new house, so we thought it was about time to buy a drill. After helpful advice from DIY-experienced friends (which boiled down to “don’t buy Black and Decker, whatever you do”), we’ve invested in a nice Makita cordless drill, which we got a great deal on at an online store. We got a free spare battery and an 102-piece set of bits, hole-cutters, screwdriver and socket bits (the drill also acts as a power screwdriver). There’s even an allen key bit the exact size of the Ikea allen key, which will be immensely useful in the next few days.

The set of bits came in a separate hard case, which was packaged opened up flat (so that you could gaze adoringly at the titanium-tipped, steel-clad goodies within), with a transparent plastic cover over the top to stop everything falling out in transit. All very well, but the plastic cover was held on by no fewer than 28 tiny little screws, rather than being glued or taped on. But wait! Hold your variable torque horses! I’ve just bought a drill that’s also a fancy-pants, all-singing, all-dancing powered screwdriver—-I can save myself no end of time by using that to remove all those screws. So I just need to get into the accessory kit to get the screwdriver bits… Oh.

It was too hot to sleep last night. It’s funny how the weather mimics your mood sometimes. We’re supposed to be completing on our new house purchase tomorrow, and then moving, so we’re in limbo, just waiting.

At about midnight, we temporarily gave up on sleep and sat on the patio in our pyjamas, enjoying the cooler air outside and watching the lightning from a distant storm flash on the horizon. We could hear the voices of our neighbours, also too hot to sleep. Everyone was waiting for the storm, the cool rain and that gorgeous sharp smell of storm rain on dry ground. But the rain never came, and we’re still feeling that oppressive pressure of waiting. I’ll be glad when the next week is over.