My world - The art of D.I.Y

Buying your first house is both terrifying and exciting at the same time, but a man soon finds out how ‘manly’ he really is when it comes to the general tasks.

As a present, my step-dad bought me a lovely new B&Q tool box, including a hammer, an assortment of screwdrivers and a mini spirit level; perfect.

It was a fairly big renovation job with several opportunities for me to use my brand spanking new tool box, every real man’s best friend.

We all say we love our partners or our cars or even our football teams, but we ‘real men’ love our tool boxes more.

And why? Because it gives us the opportunity to show just how masculine we really are. It gives us the chance, like nothing else, to fix and mend and build something new.

Men who otherwise look and act like they don’t know their way around an IKEA flat pack wardrobe can suddenly be transformed into hammering, cutting, screwing super humans, with the help of one small tool box.

So I set about my first task of pulling down a ceiling with a crowbar. It would let off some steam and I would feel as though I had done something to contribute towards making this house liveable.

I climbed the ladder, hit the ceiling as hard as possible with the crowbar and watched in amazement as it made a huge hole _ this felt pretty good.

I hit again, and once the hole was big enough I prised the end of the crowbar in and started ripping the ceiling down, which also felt good.

At this point I was on top of the world. Look at me, little Joe Cawthorn getting covered in dirt and actually ripping down a ceiling.

Nothing could stop me...

Fifteen minutes later, I was in a cloud of dust, bolting for the door and gagging as I inhaled the fresh air as quickly as possible.

I paid someone to come and finish it. The tool box has been sitting in the corner collecting dust ever since. My mum used it the other day as a step so she could paint the high bits.

P.S

When I told my dad I would be writing my own column for the Rotherham Advertiser website, he asked me what it would be about.

I told him that I had to get my personality into it. Thoughts, observations and opinions on things that were going on around me and in my life.

He responded, with a straight face: “What do they want with a blank screen?”

Cheers dad.