Dear LPG, 

Have you ever decided to make something and then found you are put off because of all the things you would have to buy before you can get started?  I have more than one friend who resolved to make or restore something when they first retired, and who still has either nothing to show for all the time and effort they have put into mentally preparing for the challenge, with the item in question, years later, still existing as a figment of the imagination, or in its pre repaired state sitting on a shelf, in a cupboard, in a box or bag and, in one instance, in a garage still waiting for the start of its renaissance.  
 
I have to admit to a bit of needle work that I have been promising to start on for years but, indirectly we have both the Danes and the army to thank for no longer having the excuse that it will take us ages to get all the parts and bits we need in one convenient place before we can get started.   

Have you noticed that nearly everything comes in kit-form these days?  

I got thinking about where the word comes from and the internet did not disappoint.  The interesting thing is that the collection of things is not the actual kit.  Apparently the word is some 700 years old and is the Danish word that describes the box that all the bits come in while the army kit was one of the first themed and recognised collections of useful things put together in this useful way. 

Perhaps getting a ready-prepared collection of all the bits needed to restore or make something has one drawback.  Having used one, it will be hard to claim that you did it ALL yourself, but getting the right kit comes as a close second because you are more likely to at least get started armed with one. 

Over the years buying things in kit-form has quietly become more accessible and, in these labour – saving days, a kit truly does what it says on the tin (Sorry- on the box). 


There are Air-Dry Pottery kits, macramé kits, knitting kits, home lighting kits, needlecraft kits, Modern Embroidery kits, Jewellery Making kits, Mechanical Model kits, Robot making kits, make up kits, Cocktail Making kits, first aid kits, flat-pack furniture kits, Wine Making and Beer Making Kits, musical instrument making kits, Drum kits, Football kits, Bike and Car making kits, Dress making kits, house making kits and even Aircraft making kits.  Many are designed as toys and models but making the real thing from a kit is not uncommon these days either… 

I know that my list has just scratched the surface, but I have to say that, from my perspective, the strangest kit craze to have landed in the western world has to be the meal kit.  While having one to ensure a successful diet seems plausible, I suppose that, as a person who has spent an adult lifetime of days cooking for a family (with the accepted splattering of take-away meals and fast food visits thrown in), my mouth drops open when I look at the prices of these delivered food boxes.  I can’t help thinking that while saving time, they stunt a cook’s sense of culinary adventure.  Depending on whats in the box has to be yet another way to stunt the growth of experimenting with personal taste.   

Kits appear to be everywhere and come in a variety of boxes prepared to prepare the purchaser to undertake nearly any task while saving them time and minimising the risk of failure…  

But on the positive side of the kit-coin is the fact that they nearly all come with one really valuable added extra… INSTRUCTIONS! 

UJ, Lewisham.