Where did these bloody Aga stove things come from? I assume they’re a peculiarly British brand of wanky gourmet stove, because I’ve never seen or heard of them in Australia. Yet they’ve shown up in the last two novels I’ve read, plus had the piss taken out of them in Posh Nosh.

I’m afraid I’m having trouble quite establishing why my life would be better if I had one. Perhaps I’m not in the target demographic.

I know where I am with VCRs. In fact I just sent another VCR to Silicon Heaven. It had been good to me over the years, the 10 year old Mitsubishi M59, but a few months ago it got a tape jammed in it. A tape I wanted. A tape with (at least as far as I recall) precious family memories.

And so the debate raged: do I go get the VCR repaired, which could easily cost as much as a replacement VCR, just to get the tape back? Given that I have another, newer, fully working VCR, do I even need a second one? Well while I pondered these questions, I seemed to survive with just one, so I suspect the answer to the second question is No.

On Sunday I finally picked up a screwdriver and started dissecting it. Decided the only thing I wanted to save was the tape inside it, so I wasn’t too delicate with it. Hacked away at the mechanism trying to find the cogwheel to turn to safely eject the tape. (There’s always one somewhere).

Eventually I found it and got the tape out, but not before I noted a loose rubber-band in the works. Which was probably all that was wrong with it. If I hadn’t hacked away so much, it might have been okay to keep using.

Ah well.

PS. Okay I did a little reading on Aga cookers, and given how freaking cold my kitchen is on these autumn/winter nights, yes, I admit my life could be better if I had one. At least, I wouldn’t be so cold. Though equally I could heat up my kitchen by putting the oven on and leaving the door open. And yes, they are distributed in Australia.