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When Mina moved into her new flat, she wanted to put an old kitchen table in the room facing the garden. She had measured the empty space under the window, and the table was exactly the right size. Her brother helped her carry it upstairs. They reached the landing without trouble, but the table would not pass through the final doorway.

They turned it on its side and tried again. Mina moved a box to make room, while her brother held the table against his knee. Nothing worked. They were about to carry it back downstairs when their neighbour came out with a screwdriver. She pointed to four small screws beneath the top. The legs could come off; neither Mina nor her brother had thought to look.

Ten minutes later, the table was beside the window. Mina made tea, and all three sat down around it. The neighbour did not stay long, but she left the screwdriver until the next morning. Mina had planned where every piece of furniture would go. She had not planned how it would get there, or who she might meet along the way.

Dear next tenant, I have lived in this flat for six years, and I am leaving a few notes that the official instructions do not include. The kitchen window needs a gentle push before you turn the handle. Please do not force it. The small cupboard beside the front door is deeper than it looks; I once lost a whole bag of winter scarves at the back.

You will find a wooden box on the balcony. It has been there since my first summer here. There is nothing valuable inside, just spare plant pots and a little metal watering can. You are welcome to use them. If you prefer an empty balcony, the neighbour on the ground floor has offered to take the box, so you will not need to throw anything away.

The flat will probably look different once your things are in it. I hope it does. A home should leave room for the person who lives there now. I have taken my photographs and my favourite chair, but I am glad to leave these small useful things behind. May your first evening here be an easy one. Best wishes, Helen.

At our first repair afternoon, visitors left broken household objects on a long table and waited for someone to call their names. We thought this would save time. In practice, the volunteers kept interrupting their work to ask which visitor owned which object. By the time we finished the first radio, we had run out of blank cards for writing names, and several people were still waiting without knowing what would happen next.

For the next session, we asked each owner to stay with their object at the start. A volunteer listened to the owner, explained what could be checked and agreed with them on the next step. We also took turns welcoming new arrivals, so the same person did not have to answer every question while holding a tool. The table looked less tidy, but there was less confusion in the room.

Not every object could be repaired. One lamp needed a part that we did not have, and its owner took it home with a written description of the problem. That was still a clearer outcome than leaving it on an unlabelled table. We had made the session more useful without becoming faster at fixing anything. What changed was the way people understood the work.