Handymen in Oxfordshire have nailed a smear that most men have shelved pursuit of their partners' affections for home improvements.
A national pub survey claims that DIY and property prices top the list of favourite topics among male customers, rather than cars and sex.
But a straw poll of customers leaving the Homebase store at Botley, Oxford, revealed the reverse to be true. Patricia Buckingham, of Brackley, dismissed the suggestion that her husband, David, preferred beavering away in the shed rather than being with her. "I'd say you preferred my company, wouldn't you?" she said.
New homeowners Steve and Mandy Rixon, from Bladon, admitted they, too, had a list of jobs to tackle. Of the claim about male preference for DIY, Steve laughed: "They've got that right on the head, haven't they!"
Story date: Monday 14 February
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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