• Aboriginals in North America
  • Beast Literature
  • Canadiana.1
  • Dances & Music
  • Europe: Ukraine & Russia
  • Fables and Fairy Tales
  • Fables by Jean de La Fontaine
  • Feasts & Liturgy
  • Great Books Online
  • La Princesse de Clèves
  • Middle East
  • Molière
  • Nominations
  • Posts on Love Celebrated
  • Posts on the United States
  • The Art and Music of Russia
  • The French Revolution & Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Voyageurs Posts
  • Canadiana.2

Micheline's Blog

~ Art, music, books, history & current events

Micheline's Blog

Tag Archives: Wind in the Willows

On Months, Dates & Planned Obsolescence

13 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Sharing, Uncategorized

≈ 60 Comments

Tags

Aldo Ciccolini, Alexandre Dumas, Kenneth Grahame, La Reine Margot, Marguerite, Mr Toad, planned obsolescence, Wind in the Willows

Pieter Casteels

Pieter Casteels (1684 – 1749)

Mozart: 9 Variations sur un menuet de Duport en Ré Majeur, K.273 (Aldo Ciccolini)

I started writing the post I published yesterday on March 10, 2012, and it is dated accordingly.  Technologies!  It deals with Alexandre Dumas, père’s novel about Marguerite de Valois.  He wrote a novel about her entitled Queen Margot or La Reine Margot.

 * * *

I hope that when I finally grow up and know which month and which day we are, I may also have a better understanding of new technologies.  At the moment, as soon as I am somewhat familiar with a gadget, a new one is put on the market and mine has become obsolete.  It’s called “planned obsolescence,” which is quite the trouvaille (find), for the manufacturer.

The same is true of kitchen appliances.  They are made to last approximately five years.  Where appliances are concerned, most of us are currently too poor not to purchase the very best with a lifetime warranty.  In the long-term, you will have paid the higher price because of your numerous calls to the technician.  Remember that he or she does not come to your home for less than a $100.00.

As for your furniture, chose the classics and chose something you know you can live with.  If it is the last fad, or dernier cri, stay away.  As well, buy bookcases that have clean lines just so they will match your cat’s Louis-Philippe day bed.  At any rate, what you need has probably been discarded and might be sitting in the basement or in the attic, if you have a basement or an attic.  Your parents bought it in the 1950s or 1960s.

In other words, do not do as Mr Toad does, i. e. fall into temptation, except a few.  Mr Toad is the main character in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows (1908).  He goes crazy when he hears the siren of a car and puts himself behind the wheel of a vehicle that is not his.  He lands in jail.

You will not land in jail by purchasing the latest, but you may run up a debt because by now you have the essential credit card and using it does not feel the same as taking ‘real money’ out of one’s wallet.

My computer is fairly new, but there will soon be a ‘better’ product that I will require because my nearly new computer will be a dinosaur.  My computer has become essential equipment.

Pieter Casteels

March 13, 2012

0.000000 0.000000

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Europa

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,507 other subscribers

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Epiphany 2023
  • Pavarotti sings Schubert’s « Ave Maria »
  • Yves Montand chante “À Bicyclette”
  • Almost ready
  • Bicycles for Migrant Farm Workers
  • Tout Molière.net : parti …
  • Remembering Belaud
  • Monet’s Magpie
  • To Lori Weber: Language Laws in Quebec, 2
  • To Lori Weber: Language Laws

Archives

Calendar

February 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728  
« Jan    

Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • WordPress.org

micheline.walker@videotron.ca

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker

Social

Social

  • View belaud44’s profile on Facebook
  • View Follow @mouchette_02’s profile on Twitter
  • View Micheline Walker’s profile on LinkedIn
  • View belaud44’s profile on YouTube
  • View Miicheline Walker’s profile on Google+
  • View michelinewalker’s profile on WordPress.org

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker
Follow Micheline's Blog on WordPress.com

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

  • Follow Following
    • Micheline's Blog
    • Join 2,475 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Micheline's Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: