Study reveals 1/3 of British adults don't know how to change a plug
WHAT did you do last weekend? Got on with some cleaning, did a bit of gardening, changed a plug? It's particularly unlikely you did that last one, as DIY; once the noble preserve of men throughout the nation; is disappearing from our households faster than a 6 pack of beer at a cricket match. Trade building supplies and DIY specialists BuildingMaterials.co.uk asked over 1,000 Brits some questions about DIY and the answers might surprise you. Unlike our grandparents' generation, we've lost the skills which mean we can turn our hands to anything around the house, and prefer to throw money at the problem instead. A fairly shameful 32.3% of us don't even know how to change a plug! And the worst offenders are the under 45s. It's the older generation who still know how to get things done, however, as nearly 95% of the over 65s answered yes when asked if they knew what wires went where. So perhaps it's worth asking your granddad next time a fuse blows… But if there's 1 thing you can rely on British men doing when it comes to DIY, it's finding an excuse to wriggle out of it. A third of them will blame not having the right tools (yeah, right…), while a creative 12.6% are likely to say they can't do it because 'the weather isn't right.' Just how that would affect putting up some shelves in the living room or changing a lightbulb, we're not exactly sure… A very honest 7.1% of men just admit they would rather watch sports on the telly, while 5.5% cop to having a hangover. Which means it's no great surprise that the women of the house have come to realise that if you want a job doing well (or even at all) you have to do it yourself; just over a quarter of the country's womenfolk admit to doing the DIY tasks in their home. Although a lazy 21.7% of households prefer to call in an expert tradesman… Either way, men of Britain, you should be ashamed of yourselves!
