h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Quality material is available. You can still buy a Rolls Royce which you could pass on to your grand children but most of us couldn't afford one so go for something made by a computerised production line and not by hand where each part was machined separately. It wears out after a short while but will have been replaced by next year's model anyway because the ash trays are full.

Terry Pratchett's Captain Vimes put this very elegantly when he considered boots for walking as he had become rich. Before he bought a £10 pair every year as that's all he could afford. They wore out in a year. When he got money he could buy a £30 pound pair which would last for many years with the odd heel replacement as necessary. This would save a vast amount of cash over the years. But he didn't have the cash to save.

The availability of cheap shoes and the shortage of cobblers makes that only too true.

I agree, most products are available in a variety of forms from the cheap disposable model to the top of the range type. To some extent price reflects quality.
People have higher expectations in terms of 'having it all now' as well as having the latest technology. There is easy credit and perhaps more disposable income.

What I feel we do lack is the facility to repair items that we had in the past. Either there aren't the skilled craftsmen, or it's not cost effective.

Anyone recall the film 'The man in the white suit' - material which did not wear out or get dirty. No manufacturer was interested because having bought a suit, no-one would ever need to buy another one.

OK, I'm 53, so I'd be allowed a rose-tinted rearview mirror - but let's face facts.
Quite a few things were not as c****y as they are today because they had not yet been invented, or, if they were available, only the very rich could afford them.

Your (not yours personally - generally speaking) central heating conked out last winter? What a shock to wake up to iced-up bedroom windows! Oh, I forget that you have double glazing.

Your stereo is cheap Japanese plastic? A mono radio (tube valves of course) wasn't, and it only cost my dad ~two weeks' wages.

Oil change, ignition timing and valve clearance check of your car are overdue? Oh boy, these 5000Km went by like nothing!

I write this nonsense on my lousy outdated 2600 MHz 750 MB PC...when my old headmaster bought a computer for our school it had 16 KB of memory and had cost 16000 DM.

The 35€ router you have in your hobby shed gave smoke signs after 8 hours nonstop work? Well, now you know why professionals are willing to pay 1000.

And as to repairing that corpse: had it been built so that it can be repaired you wouldn't have got it for 35.

No. As Teasswill said, most products are available in a variety of forms. You get what you pay for, and I'm happy I can get some things my parents couldn't afford and my greatgrandparents couldnt't even imagine.

Pit

Cars are a lot better these days. You see far fewer rustbuckets on the road. OK, you can't do a lot of DIY on them these days, but that's probably a good thing. A lot of amateur mechanics did more harm than good with their tinkerings.

Interestingly, a reasonably high-end bicycle is still a couple of thousand euro cheaper than a several times previously owned, nearly conked out car. It requires much less maintenance, and what reparis are necessary can often be done by the owner with a spanner, allen key, and screwdriver. More complex repairs rarely cost more than €30 (unless you really screw up, in which case you might need a whole new bike...Still, the cost of a new bike can compare favourably with some car mechanic bills). It doesn't pollute their air, it runs on the driver's fat, and the only money you have to spend is the odd new tyre or pair of brakes.

Bikes:

1) You have to dress like a space cadet
2) Drivers see them as legitimate targets, "collateral damage" if you will.
3) Taking a date to the cinema on a bike does nothing for the mood of love
4) Similarly, you can't get jiggy on the back seat of a bike
5) A 100 mile trip is a commute. On a bike it's an expedition.
6) Most cars don't require you to get out and push on steep hills.
7) On a bike you can't simultaneously eat a kebab, drink coffee and phone the wife whilst travelling at 70 mph.
8) You can't doze off whilst riding a bike.

1) That's handy for if the planet happens to be demolished during your morning commute.
3) It does if she's the sort of hippie who has her own mini-windmill for power.
4) Have you ever tried?
6) Most cars don't reduce your level of fatness
7) Get a headset mobile, blend your kebab into a smoothie and add it to your coffee, and strap a couple of jetpacks to the back.
8) Sure you can. It's also safer, because you don't keep going, which means you don't die.

2) is depressingly true, as I know from personal experience.

5) Do a lot of people commute 100miles/160km?

5) Well, I do over 30,000 miles a year, so I don't think twice about 100m. I did a 170 mile round trip last week for a fish supper 'cos I fancied one.

3) That sort of hippie will be a veggie. Given the anal exhalations of veggies, no sane man will let her in a car.

Apollyon, you also have to buy a replacement chain every year or so, and the entailing gears. Also spokes...but yeah, still, much more affordable.

by the way, all of these reasons for riding a bike are the same reason I prefer sailing to motor boating. I will never own a motor boat, I may someday own a small sailboat.

"Anyone recall the film 'The man in the white suit' "

I do, and in fact have a copy on my shelf. I heard about this 1951 movie while I was working for Dupont in the 70's. The engineers working for the company that invented nylon thought it was great (and they were right).

Here in the US, I think the automobile example is interesting. Yes, I think the cars I own today are better than any I've owned before. And they are both Hondas. A few days ago, Ford announced the largest annual loss in American corporate history. And GM is expected to top that about now. I have owned both Fords and Chevies, and I recall the moment I decided that they were turning out crap in order to lower costs and thus increase profits and executive bonuses. I was in a dealer showroom, sitting in a compact car and seeing light through the space between the door and the body. This is what's in the showroom? I bought a Honda Accord and have never since considered a car from an American co. (BTW, my Hondas were assembled in the USA, what was needed was a change of management, i.e. thinking of the customer as important).

As a kid in the 50's, my parents were always against buying "Japanese crap". Times change, huh?

I have been giving some thought to quality of items these days recently before this was posted on front page.
I have one fairly expensive Sabatier chef's knife as opposed to a set of poorer quality cheaper ones that will wear out quickly, my knife is at least 10 years old. I bought a reasonable quality smaller 3 pan stainless saucepan set as opposed to a bigger cheaper set, again they have lasted.
At Christmas I bought a lantern as a decoration, it has thick glass and a heavy metal frame, infact exactly like you would expect a tough outside quality lantern to be, although it uses LCD bulbs not oil. It just has a tough feel aboout it, like my knife, saucepans and indeed an old fashioned plain bare steel frying pan from a pro cooks shop...it is very basic, a couple of steel rivets and fairly crude handle, but it has a feel of something that will last a lifetime! It wasn't that expensive, like the lamp, and indeed the knife and saucepans, but careful selection and a little more investment than cheaper items brings big rewards, and saves a lot of money over the years.

When I first equipped my workshop, I had virtually no money and the essential tools had to be cheap & nasty. Once I had the basics, I found necessity to be a great master and improvised many of my own tools. For example, I needed to sand the edges of 4mm ply - a lot!! Each production run produced over 800 rectangles of ply to be sanded. A proper sanding machine cost around £1200. I improvised with a pillar drill, flap wheels and a coping saw. The result was just as effective as the bought thing. As time went by, I preferred to make do with what I had and save for the best quality tools I could buy. The result was, 6 years later I had a superb workshop with the finest tools on the market. The tools would have lasted me a lifetime. Except some discerning scrote broke in and nicked the lot.

Ah well.

But yes, buying fewer tools but of the best quality is always the best option if you can afford it.

Been giving some more thought to it and the feel of something is important, a tough long lasting feel to an item actually is a joy and reasuring thing in an ever changing world.
I had no focal point in my lounge so bought an original Victorian fireplace which has a nice feel to it, I needed some sort of fire but as no real chimney to use I bought a proper wood burning stove that has been fitted with the latest type of fake flame effect thing. With the proper cast iron frame to stove it has a very realistic effect altogether. Yes the Victorian fireplace and stove were more epensive than copies but result is pleasing, and of course a genuine Victorian fireplace has a higher resale value than a copy!
In general, I think it is better to wait for a sale to get a better quality long lasting item at a cheaper price, than a cheaper item straight away.

Another thing to keep in mind is when buying things, think about

1) How well can this be repaired? Is it possible to get replacement parts? Will it be possible in future?

2) Avoid fashions. Have the courage to develop your own style for furnishing, clothing, etc.

3) Think about what you can do with an object *after* it's outlived its natural life. Recycling... For example, I'm involved in medieval reenactment, and make a lot of my own kit. A good source for large pieces of strong, soft, and *free* leather are old sofas deposited outside on rubbish days, skin them with a knife, and hey, presto!

4) Do comparison shopping - not only to find a good price/quality ratio, but also to give yourself time to decide whether you really want/need something, or whether it's an impulse buy.

5) There are very few items that really need to be "disposable"...

I have been accused of being a in the past, I'm not lurking I'm just interested in you opinions.

Please continue:

There are certain things for a house or flat that are worth spending a little more on for a better quality as may get more for building when selling. My flat needed new windows so had no choice but buy new windows, I chose Everest as at least they have a reasonable reputation for quality and a long guarantee. A cheaper company may be less reliable long term and have a poorer quality product costing money for repairs. Same with central heating, I had to buy it as storage radiators using electricity were freezing! I got Bristish Gas to fit it as hopefully a longer lasting company and a reasonable standard of componants. There were cheaper companies , the cheapest one came in and said "Year a small radiator there a bigger one there and well will do it on the QT every other weekend and avoid VAT!", well suffice to say they didn't get the job!
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I don't have a lot of possessions but would rather have fewer of better quality than loads of cheaper ones that don't last. Take furniture for instance, Real solid wood furniture maybe a bit more expensive but if it is scratched or damaged it can at least be repaired and re-polished, indeed the older it gets the better it looks, but fake wood finishes and things like MDF are just ruined by damaged.
I bought a nearly 100 year old Edwardian solid walnut dressing chest a few years ago and although stained from tea, etc it came up really well with a clean down with white spirit and re-polishing with beeswax polish. I was carefull not to sand it down to bare wood and remove all its age and beauty as it would have looked brand new! Incidently it cost £200 which is around the same price or cheaper than a good quality new one, the 100 year old Edwardian one would have a fairly good resale price, a brand new one would crash in price as soon as bought!

Yes, and all that needs is a little willingness to look around for things, and patience and improvisation before you buy

For example, my coffee table is a wooden trunk that I bought for 10€, covered in tar and a layer of dingy yellowish-beige paint - but it turned out to be over 100 years old and painted with a floral pattern under that...

And rather than just rush out and buy a cheap desk, I now have an even cheaper desk - an old door and two sawhorses

In fact, I didn't buy a single piece of furniture specifically for this (my first) flat (except maybe a few wall shelves for the kitchen)

The shelves are ones I've had since I was born (a solid-wood system that can be configured as needed), the sofa was my parents' in their first flat together, the armchair was my uncle's, and so on.

Well indeed, and antiques are the ultimate recyling! Unlike recycled paper, glass, etc antiques often don't need any work doing to them. Often older things are well made and heavier than modern items due to using real joints in wood instead of bolts and brackets for joints. I find that antiques are normally solid brass, etc as opposed to modern items which are brass "coloured" or just a coating, which tends to wear out.
Another good point about solid wood things is they can be re-used and cut again to make something else. I used to work in a boat yard many years ago that was given roofing joists from very old houses, the nails were removed and joists cut into smaller sizes. The pine wood was then cut into mouldings on a "spindle" , the shapes were copies of very old mouldings used to renovate old libaries and buildings by a specialist company....due to original joists being old wood it was seasoned and of the right colour to suite renovated buldings. These joists were covered in nails and a white coating, perhaps plaster, and were no use for anything else so would have been burnt anyway.
Old floor boards in old buildings are often re-used as floor boards in renovated buildings again, the REALLY old very wide floor boards of oak, etc are very expensive from a specialist dealer, I believe some are as much as 1 0r 2 feet wide!

Yes, and old wood formats are nice for recycling because they were slightly wider about 100 years ago; then, they were measured *after* milling, now, it's before, so the new pieces are often just too small to fit neatly

My flat may be draughty, but at least the kitchen still has the original paintings on the walls from 1902, and the floorboards are all original, too