The arrival of spring seemed a good time for some repairs around the house. Although I am not great at DIY – hardly a handyman – I thought that I’d be able to fix a few bits and bobs if properly equipped. So, I went to a DIY store to get the right tools.

Traversing the long, narrow shopping alleys like a solitary Venetian gondolier, I came to realize that I wouldn’t be able to choose between the hundreds of thousands of hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers and other tools, the names of which I didn’t even know, and whose absolute indispensability I didn’t dare doubt. I needed an off-the-rack solution: a toolbox. After a quarter of an hour of drifting, I actually found a corner where such toolboxes were waiting to be found. I looked at them and studied their prices, contents, and the overall impression they made.