The garden bench

The other day the kids (aged between 17 and 24, so not really kids) were in the garden and somehow broke the garden bench. It’s a traditional wooden bench that the 17 year old (then about 12) put together and varnished. He was a little concerned to see his handiwork in pieces on the grass. So we decided to repair it. We drilled out the dowels with a drill not quite big enough and glued new ones in their place. At this point Chris expressed surprise – “Why are you putting glue in?” I explained it was to hold the joints together, and Chris announced that he hadn’t used glue. So the bench had been used for around 5 years, held together by willpower and a little friction. Glad I didn’t know that at the time.