Perhaps the only way to be an effective protester in Copenhagen is to be waving an American passport above your head?

And I am very disappointed that that Christmas number 1 nonsense made it’s way in – don’t care who wins, but Rage Against the Machine is NOT part of the UK music scene, and is as teenager-y, angsty and banal as they come.

That is tricky ground using recycled products, I will have to have a bit of ponder on where the buy nothing new year stand with recycled stuff. I guess it is ok as long as there has been no manufacture in the process. I.e. Cup made from recycled products that have been melted down and remoulded would not be ok, but glass made from a beer bottle could be ok. Actually at least for the first part of the year I will stick to only second hand stuff.

As for the pressie I got her a 1944 antique silver bracelet in the end. She put it on and looked at how it look on her and said, “I think I now approve of your buy nothing new year”.

The seller on Ebay refused to take it back as it took three months of too-ing and fro-ing to get it “working” just for it to break again in the fourth month. So of course not I’m covered. As with your oven, Stoney if I got it fixed it would cost more than if I bought it new.

Of course in this county it is because everything has to be bought back to money. I assume that there are a number of people being employed to make one item – the delivery driver, each part made in a different warehouse, the shop staff etc and just one or two to get something fixed – the bloke (or woman) fixing it and perhaps someone else if he has to order in a part. This is why (I think) it is cheaper to buy new than to have it fixed.

When we bought our croft, it had a two-year-old oven. Just before its third year, one of the elements failed so we were able to have it repaired under warranty—even though the repairman advised us to bin it and buy a new one. The element would have cost £41.50 if it hadn’t been for the warranty. (I couldn’t replace the element myself as it required special tools, another irritation.)

Six months later, the second element failed and the bearings went on the fan. A new element and fan would have cost £98, plus I’d have had to track down the tools to do the job. The oven only cost £180, so the cost of parts after three years would have been £139.50.

We decided to try Freecycle, but a friend came to our aid first and gave us a replacement, used oven. It lasted 18 months and the control unit failed last week, running the cleaning cycle (550C) permanently and setting a loaf of bread alight. The control unit would have cost more than £100, while the fan also needs replacing. That would have come to £150 on an oven that cost about £250 new.

This time, another friend offered us a three-year-old oven. I fitted it today, but the bottom element failed and when I looked up the prices I found it would cost £45.70. It would be wise to replace the top element at the same time, so that would be £37.60.

This time, it’s a very cheap oven that only cost £140 but the parts to repair it would cost £83.30. If two relatively small parts cost that much, how can the entire oven cost just £140?

The I discovered Comet auctions its seconds and display items online, so there’s a good chance I could get a new oven for £50-80 anyway for low-spec model and £150-200 for top-spec model that costs in excess of £500 “new”.

Of course, the problem is that we’re going to be hard pressed to find the money to either fix one of the three ovens we now have or buy a new one, but something will work out. It’s just a shame they’re not three identical or similar models as I could then build one working one out of them!

I just find it daft that an oven, which is a substantial bit of kit and consumes a lot of resources its manufacture, is now only expected to last three years and then be binned. It’s also daft that the price of an oven is so artificially low that it’s more economical to buy another one than fix the broken one.

Grrrr!

Jeni – I do buy copies of my book as presents and also the publisher does not supply copies at some of our promotions so we have to buy our own and try flogging them ourselves.

As for trainers well, I just did a quick search for you and found this site.- http://www.buykingdom.co.uk/search/keyword/trainers%20used/subid/6-2207086601 and also on ebay you can search for used things.

And to all of you happy nothing new year thanks for the well wishes!