Daddy's Birthday - and Why every girl should have her own tools

Today would have been my Dad's 102nd birthday, not that he ever would have expected to reach that age. He was born in 1918, in the midst of the "Spanish flu" pandemic that killed more young adults than the very young and the very old as most influenza does. I'm lucky his birth mother survived.

I've written elsewhere about his beginnings. Today I want to talk more about my memories of him.

1978...a lifetime ago.

He used to mostly give me money for my birthdays but one year he bought me this Stanley screwdriver. It's a special tool in that it has several changeable heads and they are held on with a magnet. The heads are also magnetised which is handy for keeping a grip on that screw. All the bits are kept in the hollow handle. Bill loves this screwdriver almost as much as I do and I expect my Dad felt much the same way. He always loved gadgets.

This screwdriver lives in the top right kitchen drawer. Now Bill isn't much of a one for putting things back where they came from. He spends a fair proportion of his life looking for mislaid items like his bus pass, his wallet, his keys... I don't judge too harshly as I was once this haphazard myself. I've found, however, that the older I get the less time I'm willing to squander hunting for things. The term 'Life's too short' has ever deeper meaning as time passes, you know?

So, because I'm so fond of this screwdriver, and because I'm not prepared to hunt for it, Bill understands absolutely that I will be very unpleasant to him if it doesn't get unfailingly returned to its proper place. 

A few months ago I bought myself a utility knife from the hardware store in Whitley Bay (F. E. Maughans). I've heard these things called a lot of other names: Stanley knife, box knife, carpet knife, it has all sorts of uses. However, I've yet to hear it called an eyebrow-pencil knife, which is why I purchased it. 

I'm currently using a Rimmel eyebrow pencil but I don't own a Rimmel sharpener; can't even recall ever seeing one. I do however own sharpeners by Cover Girl, Maybelline and The Body Shop, plus one mystery brand. They somehow manage not to work on this Rimmel pencil, though, not that they worked all that well on their own-brand pencils either. When you think about it, it just makes sense to have a sharpener that sacrifices as much product as possible to that the chump consumer returns that much sooner to make another purchase. 

I remembered my Grandpa sharpening a lot of ordinary writing pencils with his pocket knife, but I don't own one of those. So I bought this utility knife instead. I'm sure it will be useful for other things eventually, but I'll not be using it for anything other than make up pencils until I can be sure of finding new blades. So far, it's worked much better and it's safe from being mislaid since it lives in my make up drawer.

So I can recommend having your very own utility knife. And while you're at it, get a nice cheery feminine colour!