Today I took myself off to Oldham not long after midday to take a raincoat to the market to have a zip replaced. Why manufacturers make waterproof clothing fit to last for decades but put in a flimsy zip fastener that falls apart long before the rest of the garment shows any sign of wear and tear defeats me altogether. They probably rely on the inertia factor: many people won’t bother fixing the faulty zip but will buy a new cagoule. That’s how we end up with perfectly serviceable garments in landfill. Conservation rules! Or at least it should do!
When we talked about this plan the other day, my smallest granddaughter asked if I couldn’t fix it myself. She has a touching faith in my ability to do such things, probably as a result of her mother bringing things round for me to put a stitch in. No doubt I could replace the zip. I have the necessary know-how but I’m not sure that my sewing machine has the right kind of zip-foot to cope with that sort of heavy duty sewing. And then I would have to source a zip of the appropriate strength and length - not an easy in the modern age when few people make clothes from scratch. So, all in all, it’s much more convenient to pay £20 for a lady who replaces up to 10 zips a day and who was able to offer me various alternative zips to put in the raincoat. Also much cheaper than buying a new rain jacket. I’ll go and pick it up next Friday.
Talking of conservation, I came across this article about the telephone boxes of Hull which have just been granted grade II listed status. We have red phone boxes around here, mostly converted now into receptacles for defibrillators or other such uses buy preserved for posterity. Apparently the ones in Hull are cream-coloured because their public telephone system was run by the local council rather than as part of the national system. Who knew? But time has caught up with them and almost nobody uses them. Everyone has a mobile phone.
It was getting a little cold out today. A friend of mine is declaring herself ready to get through what she is now describing as our second winter (the cold weather forecast to occur shortly) because she has just received a delivery of four books she is looking forward to reading. Meanwhile it seems that in Ottawa, Canada, they are complaining because the canal has not frozen sufficiently to allow a mass skate. Climate change is causing havoc again.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.
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