Preparedness for when

thriftwizard

jk0, I'm at the stage where my kids have to wearily remind me that not everything new is cr*p and not everything old is brilliant! Witness a 1970s K-Tel burger maker, for those who remember such complete wastes of time, energy & money!

I took my aged Mother round a well-known local bedding emporium not long ago, and her jaw was trailing along the ground at the sheer enormousness & extravagance of some of the beds on offer, glittering with little mirrors or slathered in half-rubbed-off paint. But you could see the joints and the fact that they were held together with perfectly bog-standard screws - the ones whose tops mash the second they meet a screwdriver. These beds cost anywhere up to £3500 - that's before you buy your mattress & bedding - and they'll last maybe 5 years? By which time they'll be out of fashion, I suppose, and people with a big enough bedroom to fit one in probably don't care that they'll have to replace it that quickly.

In contrast, DD1 sleeps on a stunning 4' walnut bed that I bought from an 85 year old retired clergyman. His parents had been given it as a wedding present, and he himself had been born in it. Apart from a new mattress every decade or so, it'll probably still be going strong when she's an old lady; it was built to last for generations & as far as I'm concerned, a much better buy than the wrecked year-old bed it was bought to replace.

I for one would happily go back to having less, which costs more, if I didn't have to spend so much time looking after it and researching replacements...

armyknife

This thread has dropped to the middle of the second page; OMG the appocalypse is close. :-)

janb5

thriftwizard wrote: »

jk0, maybe 5 years? By which time they'll be out of fashion, I suppose, and people with a big enough bedroom to fit one in probably don't care that they'll have to replace it that quickly.

In contrast, DD1 sleeps on a stunning 4' walnut bed that I bought from an 85 year old retired clergyman. His parents had been given it as a wedding present, and he himself had been born in it. Apart from a new mattress every decade or so, it'll probably still be going strong when she's an old lady; it was built to last for generations & as far as I'm concerned, a much better buy than the wrecked year-old bed it was bought to replace.

Hi- I have a similar bed that we bought second hand about 30 years ago and is a walnut Vono bed. Still going strong and very comfortable!

jk0

For what it's worth, what I have noticed regarding modern taps is the poor quality of the material around the hole the washer presses down on.

This seems to get terribly pitted nowadays, and in modern taps is the same cheap brass that the rest of the tap is made of. I believe that in older taps it was made of something harder like phosphor-bronze.

I have a 'tap re-seating tool' which grinds the seating smooth. This works a treat on older taps, but often the newer ones are too far gone to remedy.

As for the crappy screw mechanism that moves the washer up & down, I despair.

moneyistooshorttomention

jk0 wrote: »

For what it's worth, what I have noticed regarding modern taps is the poor quality of the material around the hole the washer presses down on.

This seems to get terribly pitted nowadays, and in modern taps is the same cheap brass that the rest of the tap is made of. I believe that in older taps it was made of something harder like phosphor-bronze.

I have a 'tap re-seating tool' which grinds the seating smooth. This works a treat on older taps, but often the newer ones are too far gone to remedy.

As for the crappy screw mechanism that moves the washer up & down, I despair.

Not good news that...:rotfl:. Having gutted the bathroom in this house (new taps) and the kitchen is to come when I can afford it (new taps again). Does anyone know a German brand of taps I can look out for come New Kitchen Time then? (so I stand some chance of normal quality ones). Putting up with existing kitchen isn't an option - badly planned/badly fitted and visibly wearing out.

mardatha

Looking at the pollution levels for England on the BBC website, maybe that's another situation you need to plan for down there?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32233922

[Deleted User]

It's not too bad out there at the moment MAR, cooler than it has been and definately the air looks 'misty' so something hanging about. He Who Knows is taking his inhaler when he walks the Lurcha this morning as a precaution and is insisting he'll be OK when I offered to go instead as I'm not usually affected by 'chesty' things.

thriftwizard

Not too bad down here either, though there was a light hazy mist over the water meadows when I walked through them at dusk last night with the DDs. That probably was just mist coming off the river. I think the worst of it looks to be up East, Kent/Sussex/London way; take care, everyone up that way!

[Deleted User]

MAR I put in a search for SPRING VEGETABLE SOUP and there is one recipe on the TE*CO website that looks as though it might do the job. No garlic, no celery and no pulses. It does have fresh peas in but I think you could leave them out if you wanted to without altering the flavour.

moneyistooshorttomention

Now air pollution is one thing I'm not sorry to have left behind. When a busdriver commented to me at one point on how often he noticed things had started to go "misty" when he drove into my city it made me sit up and think twice - particularly as I don't have a car myself.

At least when I see mist these days, I know it really IS mist iyswim.