Page 14 - COBH EDITION 15th OCTOBER DIGITAL VERSION

‘Am I the only person these things happen to?’ - Trevor Laffan
My television went on the blink not so long ago and it developed a mind of its own. It only
worked when it wanted to so, I got the TV man to come and have a look at it. He told me to
put in the car and take it to another man in the city, the go-to-guy for fixing tv sets.

The go-to-guy kept it for a few days and then called me to
break the bad news. Even he couldn’t bring it back to life
and it was time for it to be recycled. I wasn’t really surprised
because that seems to be the way of the world these days.
When something breaks you just throw it away and get a
new one. The days of repairing stuff seem to be over.
I can remember as a young lad, wearing socks with lumps of
wool stitched into the heels where they had become worn.
My grandmother attacked them with needles to save them
from being chucked in the bin, and each sock looked as if
it had a tumour attached to it. Comfort wasn’t taken into
consideration.

I had jumpers with patches stitched into the elbows and I was regularly sent to the cobbler to
hand in shoes that needed new soles or heels. You didn’t get a new pair until you were almost
barefoot. There was always a lady who could replace a zip in a pants or a jacket but these
days nothing is repaired. As soon as it breaks, throw it out.

I have a watch that I got as a present years ago and I’m very fond of it. It’s not a Rolex or
anything fancy but I like it so when it stopped working one day, I brought it to my local jewel-
ler. He told me that it would probably cost more than the watch is worth to repair it and he
suggested throwing it away.

It was like telling me to put one of my kids into an orphanage. I was shocked. He told me
that there were only a few people left in the watch fixing business because most people just
replaced them when they packed up. I stuck to my guns and got it repaired eventually, but it
had to be sent to another planet, so I had to wait awhile to get it back. It cost me a few bob
too, but it was worth it to me.

It’s the same with a cooker, a fridge or a tumble dryer or anything electrical. When something
packs up the first thing you’re asked is; “How long have you had it?” You tell them that you
only got it a few years ago and they look at you with pity in their eyes, shake their head and
tell you; “Yeah, that’s about the life span of those. You did well, it owes you nothing.”

So, you buy a new machine that they guarantee you will last for years. “Best thing on the
market by a long way. It will out live the lot of us.” Sure, see you soon.
So, it came as no surprise that my TV was destined for the crematorium, or wherever dead
sets go, and I had to buy a new one. Something told me that this was not going to be straight
forward and of course I was right.
When I was buying my recently deceased set, I was told that it had to be plasma. This was
the best for picture quality and if I bought anything else, I would be wasting my money and I
may as well just be looking at my kettle.
Then I was told that plasma is old hat and LED is the way to go. So, I went on the Internet to
have a look at what was available, and this is what I was met with.
A 55’ Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV with Catch-up and 4K Streaming with web OS Picture
quality: 50 Hz, Tuner: Irish Digital Ready HD Connectivity: HDMI 2.0.b x 3.