Mend and (sometimes do way better than) Make do

There might come point in your season when you seem surrounded by buddies comparing new kit they've bought, and you realise you've not bought anything new for ages and that a lot of what you do have is patched up, repaired, bent back into shape or even pimped by you to add some feature the manufacturer weirdly didn’t.

I love that feeling, being happy with the kit I have and knowing that I've had my own hand in some of it still performing for me.

Now, they aren't just a pair of gloves I’m fond of for their design and our past adventures together; now that I’ve glued and sewn up the seam that opened on the finger, they have a new lease of life and my relationship to them is more personal.

Sometimes I feel pride in the crafting of the fix, or pat myself on the back for a bit of ingenuity or the money saved - all good feelings. It also feels like a rebellion against the in-your-face shop-till-you-drop culture, and a contribution, even if tiny (they all add up), to looking after our world by reducing the churn of new goods a bit.

Lots of duct tape on my jacket might get critical comments from certain quarters but they are also battle scars and some have stories and memories that go with them (even if sometimes embarrassing to relate!).

So, go on, get out your tapes, your glues, your patches and your sewing kits and get a little of your inner repair-rebel on.