When I last went hiking, the sleeping pad started leaking air. Not much – not so you’d notice anything immediately, but enough so that my hips and shoulders were touching the ground by the morning.

It took an inordinate amount of work to find the tiny leak, with diluted dishwashing detergent and a tub of water and then slowly inspecting all parts of the pad. I found it in the end, and patched it, and now I really hope it was the only one. Afterwards I lay on the pad for fifteen minutes, reading, and it seemed OK.

It feels good to fix something instead of throwing it out and buying a new one, even when we could afford it.