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Your worst purchases......


AlanHo
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Put your thinking caps on and join me in recalling your worst waste of money purchases over the years.

Being thick skinned - or just thick - I will get things started.

Mt first car was a clapped out Standard 8 with a dodgy windscreen wiper. I saw in our Daily Rag an advert for a super duper fly deflector which fastened to the top of the bonnet (Hood - DW) and deflected the air stream over the car roof - carrying any flies with it. It didn't work. I guess it may have had some effect at 450 mph - but at 45 mph, the fastest the car would go, it was totally useless.

Undaunted and unbruised about my limited buying skills I then bought a reel to reel tape recorder to make pirate copies of my various mates pop music. I couldn't afford a proper Grundig recorder - so bought a cheap contraption which sat upon a record player turntable and powered the reels via rubber bands. It too was useless - the lack of proper speed control gave the music warble and wow qualities that on reflection might be appreciated by todays youth.

Then there was the vegetable slicer and dicer being demonstrated with such skill at a Food & Drink exhibition. All I ever managed to slice was the top of my thumb - clean off - which fortunately the A&E managed to stitch back on.

The latest disaster was the purchase on Ebay of an extended hedge trimmer which could trim up to 10 feet high. It offered the prospect of trimming my hedges and bushes without steps or ladders. Not so - it was not all that heavy - but the weight was concentrated at the top - and I lacked the strength to handle it. I lasted half an hour before giving it up as a bad job. The only saving grace was that I put it back on Ebay and got £12 more than I paid for it.

Being a gadget freak has its downside - I have made so many mistakes over the years I am quite unable to recall them all. However, I am slowly getting better and more resistant to temptation.

I suppose some wag will now point out that I am not really cured - after all - I recently upgraded to Vista..... :lol:

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Easy.

My first wedding licence.

I was too trusting and gullible. My upbringing had been straight forward openness, truth and kindness. I knew nothing else.

I simply could not understand how all sorts of things "Just Happened" for several years, until my sister-in-law, who was disgusted with what was going on, let me in on the secret. I asked how she knew and was told that her sister had been bragging to her about it.

My second wedding licence was worth thousands of times what I paid for it.

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Then there was the vegetable slicer and dicer being demonstrated with such skill at a Food & Drink exhibition
Alan, I had one of these too. I almost lost my finger prints!!!

My second wedding licence was worth thousands of times what I paid for it.
catgate, what a lovely thing to say. :)
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An exercise bike.

I thought I would cycle away watching the TV. It seemed SUCH a good idea! In the event, the novelty wore off after a week...........

:D

Ditto. If you buy such a contraption it has to be one of the best. Mine is difficult to adjust to run smoothly, and when you have it right, you have to slacken everything off after use to avoid damaging the wheel. It is now in the loft and will stay there.

Another load of rubbish was our last lounge furniture. It was a three seater settee, plus a two seater and an armchair. It was purchased from a company called SCS. It looked gorgeous, with a lovely solid chunky looking wooden frame, upholstered in burgundy leather, extremely comfortable. At the price, it appeared to be a bargain. After seven years the leather had become crazed and cracked. The stitching was split on the armchair, and the seat was sagging. All this despite using leather food. We have just replaced it with upholstered furniture in what we hope is a good quality fabric. It is made by Lazy Boy, who have a good reputation. :D

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An exercise bike.

I thought I would cycle away watching the TV. It seemed SUCH a good idea! In the event, the novelty wore off after a week........... :D

I had one of them too.

It had 6 miles on the clock when I sold it! :lol:

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