Cheapskate...moi? Surely not.

You may recollect some time ago, if you're avidly gripped by this inept missive, that I was struggling to find some bits and pieces worthy of a Christmas list, but did eventually manage to concoct something, one item of which was a Bessey spring clamp.

All well and good I hear you mutter, and no doubt an excellent product, but hey...a spring clamp is a spring clamp is a spring clamp, isn't it?

With that in mind, I was doing a little casual sightseeing in one of my favourite retail establishments when I came across some really powerful, and quite well made clamps, priced from 75p to £1.50. These were so strong that it was an effort to open the larger sized ones...so I had an armful and felt mightily chuffed with myself.

Eight for less than the price of two...winner, can't be bad.

However, 'you pays your money'...and how true is the old adage 'cos as soon as I used one for the first time, the plastic pins broke in the shoes!

My initial thought was one of bitter foolhardiness at having squandered such a vast amount on cheap and nasty tools...but then I had a cunning thought? (an all too rare occurrence these days) How about replacing the broken pins with something a little stronger, maybe some pieces of silver steel or perhaps something a little less esoteric like mild steel rod?

A little bit of ferreting around produced a few steel nails that just happened to be exactly the right diameter for the pin, so with little judicious drilling and cutting, my cheap and nasty cramps are now as good as some costing over three times as much.

The only down side to this happy tale of ingenuity is that I'm now one item short on my Christmas list. As in most things though, there's a silver lining as SWIMBO has promised me an 'extra' present this year on account of my strenuous efforts with the decorating.

Don't hold your breath though...