Old Faithful

This, here, is my beard trimmer:

A Philips "philishave" beard trimmer.

It's a Philips trimmer specifically for facial hair, and it's broken. I bought it in the mid-1990's; this thing lasted me for 21 years.

The battery gave up ten years ago, so I've used it plugged in since then. The motor did start to make some odd noises over the past year, and finally, a few weeks ago, the mechanism that moves the comb snapped, making it impossible to adjust the trim length.

21 years is an eternity for consumer devices like this. 21 years ago, the web was only starting to become popular. CRT televisions and monitors were still common. The smartphone didn't even exist. I could lose half my fingers in a bizarre knife-juggling accident and still count the number of electrical devices that lasted this long on a single hand.

My wife, ever the practical one, pointed out that a new trimmer costs only a few thousand yen. And repairing and maintaining old devices may be a worthwhile hobby, but it's only a matter of time until this one will get stuck in my beard or set it on fire. Neither of which would be conducive to a professional appearance at work the next day.

So I finally gave it up. The trimmer went to the Electrical Goods Store In The Sky, and I got myself a new trimmer. There's several makers and lots of models out there, but, really - 21 years of good service? No price for guessing what brand I bought this time around. And yes, I'm happy with the new trimmer so far.