My phone wasn’t broken, but my granddaughter gave to me her ‘obsolete’ i-Phone because it couldn’t do all the things she wanted it to do. This has got me thinking about how many new things we acquire because we can’t fix a broken one or because it can’t do the latest tricks.

One problem is that there are not many people left who know how to fix things. My Dad could fix anything, or at least that’s what I thought. I grew up during the World War 2 when there was not a lot to buy and not much money to replace things if they got broken, so you either fixed them or did without.

There is also the philosophy of ‘planned obsolescence', developed early last century, which preaches that instead of making an expensive product which will last a long time and be fixable if it fails, businesses are urged to produce more affordable, disposable items. Advertising changes fashions and old models become less desirable - the pressure to buy new models is constant. And with technological advances happening at an incredibly rapid pace, new models make older ones outdated and parts become unprocurable. Such things as cars have become too complicated for the average person to fix and even the local car centres can’t replace many small components as they are now parts of larger units which are indivisible. It has become easier and often cheaper to throw things out than it is to repair them. At one stage, not so long ago, I found that it was cheaper to buy a new printer fitted with an ink cartridge than it was to buy a new ink cartridge- what sort of sense does that make?

Who darns a sock anymore, or mends holey clothing or frayed electrical cords and have you ever had a DVD player, an electric kettle or an iron mended? If you do any of these things you are not the norm.

I know that there are many other pressures to buy new things and that ‘stuff’ can dominate our lives unless we are very careful. I am quite concerned that the latest generations do not value things as we did because things are so replaceable and available, as is the money to buy them. I am concerned because, as most of us are aware, there will be a reckoning somewhere along the line.

Sadly, it is my generation who have provided the groundwork for this unfortunate situation for which I have no solution.

I think that there may be a place for a “General Repair Shop” in Yass; It may be that The Men’s Shed could open one; there must be a wealth of experience in ’fixing’ things there; and maybe we could add  a ‘Women’s Repair Department” nearby where some knowledgeable women could ‘fix’ broken clothes.

Let me draw your attention to this website which may be of interest to all the ‘would-be’ repairers in Yass:

http://repaircafe.org/