DIY skills for the 21st century

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DIY skills could die out before 2050 - That's what a survey by the AA has recently predicted and I can quite believe it. I, for one, hate DIY. It's mostly tedious stuff like painting walls in a room for the second or third time, or putting up shelves for books you will never read again. Who the heck wants to spend their weekends doing that? Not me.


My dad, on the other hand was and is very good with all that DIY stuff. Building shelves, water systems, heating systems and not having to employ the skills of some local artisan. "Dad skills are obsolete", says James May in the Telegraph. Maybe,  but it's just that they have changed.

There are some jobs I do enjoy doing at home which I now do out of necessity because without me doing them I would have to employ some local 21st century artisan to do. This, generally, involves computing and, when I have employed people to mend computers for me, I often been appalled by their lack of ability to do what they said they could do.

So, I learned to do it myself and when you get down to it, most computers are quite easy to maintain. You just need to learn some basics about software, hardware and security to save forking out for a 'professional' to do what you can easily do. The basics are learning how to install a new component to your machine, such as a video card; how to install software that enables that video card to work; installing free security software to stop those nasty viruses which are avoidable.

And, importantly, these skills learned at home on computers is useful in work too, where DIY skills are not so useful. At work, I can often avoid the wait of having to call the help desk for support, as well as understanding the importance of IT to most businesses now.

Furthermore, the big thing for me is that being good at DIY is a symbol of our mad obsession with houses in this country. Houses are money pits which waste your time. OK, some people make money on them. We all like the feel of 'capital growth' when the market is on the up.

But, having a house and being good at DIY are like owning a splendid ship in the middle of an ocean which springs leaks faster than you repair them. You are just longing for the time when you can reach land and sell your the damn thing and make some before you sink.
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