My maternal grandfather was a carpenter. Every time I visited his atelier, welcomed by the sweet smell of sawdust, I was amazed by all his tools: from the huge and very dangerous table saws to the many different types of hammers, screwdrivers, etcetera.
Similarly, I remember looking at my father’s three-level portable toolbox and wondering about its several variations on pliers and wrenches and the many drill bits for wood and metal.
It would be logical to think that I have followed one path or the other, and that, as an adult, I have developed a fervent DIY passion and own lots of different tools. That’s not the case.

Back home, where I thought I would follow a more ’traditional’ life path (i.e. a country I know I’ll continue living in, a house, a family, etc.), I did own a drill, and a small toolbox with a few key elements.
Instead, my current renting contract even forbids me to hang a painting on the wall, the most advanced DYI tool I have is an electric screwdriver (the best friend of the tenant of an IKEA-furnished apartment), and even that one stopped working.

But I still have a passion for tools. Only, now, they are digital ones.
In addition to the software I use every day, my Setapp external link subscription allows me to try new ones when needed.
And I still have a fascination for other people’s tools: I am the indiscreet person who will scan your phone home screen looking for unfamiliar icons, and then ask you about it.
I know ’there’s an app for that’, but my question is: ‘What is that app there for?’. And I love listening to podcast episodes where people describe the apps they love… who knows when I might find something I didn’t know I needed!
Current preferred/most used apps: NetNewsWire external link , Obsidian external link , Duolingo external link (though I’ve set aside Chinese and started Japanese) and Ice Cubes external link .

And though I can’t use tools to create objects, I have something my grandfather didn’t have: tools to create tools!
In my case, nowadays, this primarily means PyCharm external link , the Python IDE through which I develop tools to help me both in my hobbies and, sometimes, in my professional life; most of these are small automation scripts that speed up procedures or synchronise data. Some examples, that I list here just to give you an idea (they are not that important):

  • the automation I use to prepare and publish posts on this blog;
  • the script that aligns my Films I liked page with my Letterboxd account;
  • the code through which I update my Blu-Ray collection database on AirTable;
  • the routine that gradually decreases the intensity of my bedside lamp light when I prepare for sleep;
  • the tool that fetches the latest news from the main movie websites and tries to cluster the ones that refer to the same events…
    As tools, they are simple and very artisanal.
    Their real value is the fun I have in putting them together: that’s the closest I’ll ever be to being passionate about DIY.

This post is my submission for this month’s IndieWeb Carnival external link , hosted by James external link who chose the theme of Tools.