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Old tube monitor glowing with abstract stripes beside a beige computer.

Drawn by

Hazel Pickering

I worked in the council offices for thirty-one years, and then I retired to a garden shed full of old beige computers. The first one came from a car boot sale on a misty Sunday, in a box with a tangle of cables, and I have not really stopped since.

Now the shed has a heater, a kettle and a shelf of machines waiting their turn. I recap boards, clean keyboards, bring tube monitors back and load games from cassette, and I film all of it slowly, with the drizzle on the roof. Everything I sell is something I wish I had been given when I began.

Last panel

If you get stuck

How do the downloads arrive?

After checkout you receive an email with a download link, and the same link is shown on the confirmation page. Everything is a PDF.

Is there merch?

Yes: tees, hoodies, mugs, totes, prints and stickers with my own designs. Each is printed to order and shipped by Printful, and the cost and delivery time show at checkout.

How often do the letters come, and how do I leave?

One every other Sunday. Every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom, and it works at once.

Do I need to know electronics to start?

No. I began with a screwdriver, a cheap soldering iron and a lot of patience. The first job in my guides is cleaning, and that needs no electronics at all.

Free

Solder and Tea

A short letter from the shed every other Sunday: what is on the bench, what went wrong and what I learned.

3,100 readers

Free, and you can leave any time

One email every other Sunday. Unsubscribe any time.