My day in cups of tea
We asked Louise Hames of Tinker and Fix to put down her tool kit for a minute and tell us about her day in cuppas.
Morning! First cuppa? What are you doing?
Edd always has one lined up for me in the kitchen and the first couple are drunk in quick succession as we try and get our son ready for school.
School run done, what’s next?
Ideally, we'd walk the dogs near our home in Market Overton – one of Rutland's nicest villages (I may be biased) – and we'd talk through what needs to be done. But our dogs – Fly, a 16-year-old Parson Russell Terrier, and Parsnip, a Border Terrier, who’s 10 – don’t like winter walks, so we’ll chat over a cuppa instead.
How did Tinker and Fix start out?
Edd’s grandpa gave him the tool roll which he’d made during the war. After more than 40 years of use, it was in such a state! Edd was torn between using it, and keeping it safe, so we made a new one with the same dimensions and a more durable waxed cotton canvas. The Frank tool roll was born and soon afterwards came spanners to fit inside it (from England’s only remaining manufacturer of spanners), followed by more tools and kit that we rated.
Amazing! Time for a cuppa – how do you take it?
Average strength, average amount of milk, but piping hot. Essentially, its a vehicle for dunking biscuits. I live by 4 Cs: carbs, chocolate, cuppas and cake.
Sounds good. Now back to work – what's the plan?
Mornings are about dispatching orders, while in the afternoon I work on photos, the blog or testing products.
Almost done for the day. One last cuppa?
It’s decaf tea in the evening, and by 10pm, when we're trying to switch off, it's a hot chocolate or a Horlicks.
And when do you actually manage to switch off?
Tinker and Fix is often the first and last thing we talk about, but it doesn’t feel like work, so we're very lucky.