Having been left on my own with a big house and a 6 year old, I dredged up lost skills from living in my own flat alone ..plugs, spiders, juggling a full time job and money (ex was a compulsive gambler ..I have NEVER gambled and wouldn't want to ! can't even bear to buy a lottery ticket ) (although I have, because you never know !) Then met and married a super DIY enthusiast who never let me do anything because 'youwon't do it right'...now he has a disabling illness so I have again dredged up my skills and do most thing ...look after the car (BUT hee hee I have found a lovely young man at the garage who will check my tyre pressures, oil, etc etc for a tip ...sadly because of arthritis in myhands I am totally unable to undo the little plugs to check the air)......I no longer mow the lawn as I have found again, another lovely young man to come along ...only takes him half an hour with his sit on mower, used to take me 3 hours ! he also trims all the trees and bushes ...of course I pay him the going rate, and all he ever wants is a bottle of water bless him ! Finding someone to renew some broken tiling around the house is however proving difficult ...if I could bend down, I would do it ...and lightbulbs my husband insisted on down lights in every room and fancy on the ceiling glass shade things ...I simply CANNOT change those ...but again, when the firemen were round selling their calendar I asked them to come in and replace the batteries in my smoke alarms which they did !! I hate having to ask people to do things I used to do ....when we moved to a bungalow I suggested to my husband (who was then 73) that we make it EASY to live ..i.e. no enormous trees in the garden (it was new then) SO we have 12 trees and a huge willow tree ...hedges all round rock gardens, shrubs, flowers, a wooden pergola shed, and they all need so much maintenance ...my neighbours were all sensible and most have a path round the garden and a lawn, with a few flower tubs .....simples ! I am enviously eyeing up a retirement flat .......bliss 