When it comes to DIY, I’m a bit shy. I’m not very good at it (I use the excuse that I’m left-handed) so I always revert to GSI (Get Someone In).

Don’t get me wrong, I can strip wallpaper or knock a wall down – it’s the hanging wallpaper and building a wall bit that flummoxes me. Sometimes though I I try. I don’t tell anyone what I’m going to do and sometimes it can take me weeks to work out what I need to do and how I’m going to do it. I don’t announce it to anyone – the expectation and nagging would get to me.

Last week I decided to make the outside of the house look presentable. Weeds had sprung up along the bottom of the wall and had become unsightly. I had removed them from time to time but they always returned. I got a picture in my head – what if I dug them out once and for all and replaced them with pebbles all along the bottom of the wall?

I zipped up to B and Q and got 3 bags of beach pebbles. It was quite weird wondering around knowing exactly what I was looking for. I bet even some customers were thinking, ‘There’s a man who knows what to do!’

When I returned home I got straight to it – my wife and children were out so it was the perfect opportunity. I proceeded to dig out the weeds and left a wide enough gap so I could tip the pebbles in. It was easier than I thought and took me less than an hour.

I felt chuffed with myself and was safe in the knowledge that at least it wouldn’t fall down or fall apart.

The best bit though was still to come. A couple of days later my neighbour asked where I’d got the pebbles from and how many bags of pebbles I’d used. Apparently, his wife had seen what I’d done and loved it and she wanted the same for the outside of her house!

Me being asked advice on DIY? I suppose there’s a first time for everything.