More recently, it’s what led me to help start a charity here in Portsmouth: a Repair Café and Library of Things, built around the simple idea that we don’t always need to buy new.

At our Repair Café, volunteers come together once a month to help people fix everything from vacuum cleaners to trousers. We share tools, knowledge, and cups of tea. I even trained in PAT testing and learned how to sharpen scissors and kitchen knives with whetstones, a surprisingly satisfying skill to pick up in your 30s!

But the Repair Café is only half the story. We’ve also launched a Library of Things, where anyone in the community can borrow items they don’t need to own. Ladders, air fryers, crockery for a big birthday party, even children’s car seats. It’s like a local toolkit-meets-community-hall-meets-sharing-economy. You save money, save space, and reduce waste all at once.

Getting the charity registered, building the systems behind it, and now serving as Chair has been a learning curve, but a rewarding one. And in a strange way, it’s not so different from the work I do in tech. Whether it’s designing an app or organising a borrowing system for power drills, it’s all about people. It’s about usability, accessibility, and building trust in systems that make life a bit easier.

If you’re local to Portsmouth, pop along, whether you’ve got a wobbly chair leg, need a blender for the weekend, or just fancy seeing what it’s all about. And if you’re further afield, consider how this could look in your own community. You don’t need to be an expert. Just willing to roll up your sleeves and get involved.

In a time where everything feels faster, newer, and more disposable, fixing, sharing, and connecting feels quietly radical.

And honestly? It just feels right