Thanks for the suggestions guys. It might also be an excuse to drink more beer, on the assumption that a pub in the evening is a good place to meet tradesmen.
I don’t mind most diy tasks, and happy to learn new skills. As mentioned, you often end up with a better job than a professional might have done, even if it took you a lot longer.
A significant exception in this current list is the guttering as I suffer badly from fear of heights. Nine times out of ten when I climb a ladder, as soon as I get to about 6 feet off the ground, my muscles seem to freeze and turn rigid. Trying to descend again, with elbows, knees and ankles that refuse to bend or flex then becomes truly dangerous, as opposed to the initial ‘imaginary danger’ from being up there.
It is of course completely irrational, but anybody who experiences similar symptoms will understand they cannot easily be overcome. I did recently tick off one item on my bucket list, which was to walk across the Clifton suspension bridge. I’d tried several times over the years but on each previous occasion, brain just said ‘No’. Finally persuaded it to let me cross, even though I was hanging on for dear life, to any available part of the structure, the whole way over.
