random new skill...

BT

When my eldest was in hospital (born 13 weeks prem) I learnt to change feeding tubes. Not something I ever thought i'd need to do.

Sound editing probably. I dunno if I'd describe it as a 'little skill' but a few years ago I would never have seen myself downloading, converting and editing sound files. Now not only does a radio archive exist that I helped to create, but I have contributed to the music for several people's weddings! I'm very proud of the work I did on the Moyles archive - just yesterday it was my instagram #100happydays post in fact.

Not me, but in the past couple of weeks my husband has fixed both the toilet and the boiler.

So he's now a boiler man, plumber, mechanic and QS.

I got a good'un!

When I left my ex and moved into my own place in my twenties I had to do 'manly' stuff I had never really done before. Like put up curtain poles, pictures and shelves using a proper drill with different drill bits for different walls etc. I learnt about different types of wall plugs and screws and nails. I felt a bit pathetic that I had never done it before but my step-dad had done stuff for me before or my OH at the time. The first screw driver I bought was pink and useless (a bit like my ex).

It was quite liberating actually. I now have quite an extensive tool kit (none of it is pink!) with lots of different screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches and a couple of drills etc. I'm a dab hand with a drill AND I hoover the dust up after myself. ?

Getting 1/10 of a tiny crushed tablet into a squirming rat is quite a talent! Also clipping claws of a wriggly rat (though I tend to leave that to OH as I am scared I will take their toe off).

Oh man, I HATE those pink toolkits you can buy. What, women can't do DIY unless they have pretty pink tools? Grr. Almost as bad as that 'pens for women' debacle from a few months ago.

My first job when I was 16 was at a large DIY store so I learned all the theory of DIY then, it was just several years before I put it into practice! I'm naturally quite clumsy, but I can still talk confidently about allan keys and rawlplugs

MF once snapped the handle off the toilet - I went to B&Q (other hardware stores are available) and purchased a new handle. But all the internal bits needed replacing too, and I managed to do it all, connect it back together and put on the new handle!!! Worked better than it did previously!

I ave a pretty pink toolkit! Funny thing is when OH and I first got together he was putting some furniture together and I had to go round there with my pink toolkit and help him!! We're both ok at putting furniture together but when it comes to drilling stuff we tend to call my dad for help!

A tool kit was my dads leaving home gift to me when i went to uni. I don't drimk hot drinks so was oblivious to the fuses that kept blowing. My housemate had bought 3 new kettles in a single term before i twigged what was happening and taught her to change a fuse!

My new skill is that last night for the first time ever i successfully loaded a patient on a stetcher into the back of an ambulance.

Wiping elderly bums? Not sure how much skill is involved though...

Potentially quite a bit in my experience, particularly if you're having to keep them steady in a hoist at the time. The greatest skill is preventing the experience from becoming a degrading one for both them and you though.

I'm going to say running. I hate sports, and apart from years I spent dancing I have never been very active. However I strayed running last year and I really enjoy it! So that's a skill I have developed I would say .

Ooh running for me too! When I was at school I came worst in the whole year at the bleep test and have never been sporty. It was only a few years ago that I was severely short of breath running for the bus and now I can run 5k. And I actually enjoy it too!

Just replaced the push button flush on the upstairs toilet. Feel proud. Unfortunately will have to confess to breaking it first to get any credit!

I also had to learn various tool-related skills after my first marriage but my tools all had red handles ?

I can change a nebuliser and administer oxygen, explain and work a SATS monitor and find most of the equipment on the children's ward of our local hospital.

I learnt how to write a report and conduct an ethically sound psychological experiment.

And I diagnosed the fault in our boiler when the repairman didn't know what was wrong!