[ one and a half minute read ]
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I think I will go along with time
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Someone once asked me why I have not replaced my old electric cooker. It has rust on it, a couple of the knobs have fallen off and I have to guess what temperature I have turned the oven to because the numbers have worn off. I told them that it is for the same reason that I do not replace a car because it is out of fashion or doesn’t go as fast as it once did or has developed strange quirks that sometimes irritate me; I married a beautiful, young and shiny woman. She was fast, exciting, and reliable. Heads turned when she passed. Other people admired her classy looks and style and she was accomplished at learning new things. I knew that she too would get a little rusty; I might know her well but one day she would develop little annoying quirks and I won’t be able to read her as well as I once did. I knew that she would get slower and less eager to please. All this, I knew would also happen to me. I never envisioned that I would need or want to get a newer model as soon as something goes wrong. If she ever got injured and needed to be repaired in a hospital I would not abandon her. Of course, people are not utilities and I am only using metaphors as sub-text. What I actually said was:
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‘Why would I? I like it. Having to use something to turn a couple of knobs is not hard; it's habit and I have it to hand. A little bit of surface rust is fine and guessing, and hoping, how something that's been in the oven turns out is fun; it's cooking.’
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