New Year, New ...

[qatsi]

A happy new year to all readers.

During 2017 it became apparent that a number of things weren't going to last much longer. This gathered apace in December. We're not neophiliacs, so it's not as if we haven't had our money's worth from most of the items; I'm not especially sentimental about saying farewell to them, but shy away from confronting the choices that must be made in replacing them. In no particular order,

• Car - which is now 11 years old and has c.106000 miles on the clock. During the service in December I had an "advisory" about the shock absorbers; this follows persistent problems with the rear windscreen wash and having to replace the battery on the key fob. Going with a whimper is probably preferable to a bang in this case, and a gradual accumulation of niggles and small faults is giving me significant signs that it's time. I'm not completely sure what to get next, or how to pay for it. The money is there, but buying a car is just about the worst investment you can make; plus, how long do I want to keep it for and how quickly is technology (elecric and/or driverless cars) going to move? A new Jazz would probably be fine, though the Skoda Fabia also rates well; dealers seem to push PCP, whereas if I don't by outright, PCH (a straightforward lease) looks better value. The risk of such plans is that my anticipated annual mileage (currently much less than 6000) changes; the risk of buying outright is that the depreciation is all mine.


• TV - we are not sure how old this is, but 15 years is a reasonable guess. It's a 21-inch 4:3 CRT, and the volume has been rather erratic of late; quite often I am struggling to hear speech in particular. We are not significant TV watchers and it looks like a 32-inch widescreen is the most corresponding replacement; the thinness of its frame makes it not very much bulkier overall than the current model. The concern around this one is generally that of connectivity - we have SCART cables but of course in that vintage there is no HDMI, and we didn't get an HD or HD-ready Freeview box at the time either. Though no item in itself is hugely expensive, it's possible this could turn into a slippery slope, including replacing items that are actually working fine, which would be irksome.


• Dishwasher - about 10 years old, and at some point last year it stopped producing hot water. It's possible this could be repaired, but maybe, for efficiency and so on, it should be replaced. Not exactly a priority, but from time to time it's useful.


• Tooth - the dentist informed me that my filling, which dates from childhood and was last seen to c.1999, needs replacing. Obviously not something to look forward to, but if I delay too long the repair work will be more expensive and extensive.


• Laptop - coming up to 7 years old, which is pretty good going, but now getting slower and slower when the OS (Windows 7) gets restarted; I suspect it's virus-scanning and a relatively slow hard disk that's actually the problem. Not the highest priority, but an SSD model would be nice.

So, it looks like I shall be keeping the global economy afloat pretty much single-handed for the next few months on that basis.