My dear old dad is 80 and clearly not very good with power tools.

Earlier this week he cut his whole arm off with a chainsaw.

I might have just made that up. In truth, it was a circular saw. And it was only the tip of one of his fingers. The point is, the end of his finger could just have as easily been his whole arm. With the magnitude of a simple twitch his writing arm might have found its own orbit.

Dad trotted off to the doctor, who asked with interest if the orphaned digit had made the journey with him into the surgery, but it hadn’t. locating it now was going to be tricky. It was probably now in the same place as his glasses. Dad says he can remember his childhood vividly, but he has no idea where he has just put his car keys.

With his hand bandaged, Dad went home and was soon found digging out suitcases up in the roof space, getting up one of those drop down attic type ladders.

Although a generation younger than my father, there are already striking similarities in my own behaviour. A few years ago, whilst using a Mallet to bash brick pavers into place, I left my index finger in the line of fire. That act remains in the top five of the most stupid things I have ever done. My son was astounded that I hadn’t sworn once. That was because I couldn’t breathe. I have also back flipped off the roof of our house trying to get into an upstairs window because I had locked our keys in the house. That is up there in the ratings as well.

So I am the very last person to pass judgement on my dad for staying active around the house; I am just making a mental note to make sure I lock the shed and misplace the key when I near his age.

Staying active around the house for me may need to be just walking the dog and looking for my glasses.