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Between Friends with Bob Ann Breland

Things here, things there! What can we do with all the things we use?

My world has always been keeping and fixing things that were still useable, instead of throwing them away. However, things are changing and we seem to be living in a massive throw-away world.

A couple of years ago, the wrist watch I was wearing was completely worn out. I went shopping for a new one. Watches are simple these days with batteries making them pretty reliable. Instead of paying a big price for a fancy one, I chose a stainless steel one with a leather band for about $40 or so. I was happy with my choice. A nice, reliable watch at a reasonable price.

Eventually the wrist band wore out and I started to look for a new one. The watch was still great, so I figured a new band was all I needed, I went to a local store, which pretty well has everything one could want. I told the clerk I needed to get a new watchband put on my watch,

“Oh, we don’t do that anymore,” she said. She showed me some watch bands they had left in stock and none fit my plain watch. Apparently, selling is what they do, not repairing.

I checked with numerous other stores, in numerous places, but nobody had any watch bands.

My son was visiting and I told him about trying to find a watch band. He exclaimed it was no problem. He flipped the watch over and read the size band needed for the watch, then ordered one on the Internet. The one I chose was $20.

When it arrived a couple of days later, one of the family members installed it and I was once again wearing my nice, still running watch. About the time I got used to it, guess what? The battery died! I could not remember ever putting a battery in this watch, so this was about time for a new one,

So I went shopping again. Nobody I checked with would install a watch battery. The only place I had not checked was a jewelry store. By the time I drove to town, went there and had a battery installed, it was a little less than $20. It is running great, so far. So watch band and battery about $40.

Do you see my point? I could have thrown the old watch away and bought a new one for about what I paid for having it fixed. My mind doesn’t work that way. Too many years of getting things fixed and carrying on. Besides, this can become a big problem for an elderly lady, searching to find answers to what used to be very simple problems.

I sort of have a thing against ordering everything on the Internet. I know it is convenient, but stores are closing because people aren’t going shopping anymore.

Besides finding answers to many problems, manufacturers are making products that aren’t designed to last very long. Designed to wear out! When they quit running, throw them away and buy a new one. Nobody to fix them. No parts.

We are watching the garbage dumps filling up with big, no longer useful items. The earth is being filled with masses of junk. How long before this is a really big environmental problem?

My watch was a just little bitty thing, but a lot of trouble for trying to find an answer. It is tough for me to toss good workable things.

All we can do is grumble about it because the world is constantly changing. The hard part is watching so many things happening and learning to live with it.