Most people take their household appliances for granted, but in the bush, with not much company around, we treat ours like members of the family, or indeed loyal servants.
Recovered from an op shop years ago and thus of uncertain parentage, our old Sunbeam toaster had unfortunately lost her lustre (oh yeah!), and was getting tired of the morning routine trying to transform whatever scraps of bread or crumpet we cared to jam into her slots. So, she was retired to the aged care facility for doddery appliances, aka the shipping container, to await e-waste day.
On a trip to Kalgoorlie, at Good Guys we managed to snag the demo model of a Russell Hobbs ‘Paddington’ toaster for a good price, and next morning Russell did our toast.
However we soon realised that Russell, or Hobbsy as we called him, was sucking up way too much power for our modest, off-grid solar power system – at least 50% more than ol’ Sunbeam. How Paddington! We should have known from his city accent and white sliced bread look.
Although it wasn’t Russell’s fault (who didn’t check power usage on his bottom?), we had a quick pow-wow and told him that unfortunately we would have to let him go. Hopefully to another home, as he was donated to Lifeline, a worthy cause. He was cool with that anyway, as an inner city toaster guy.
On the next trip to Good Guys, with power usage in mind, we spotted a stylish Italian model, ‘Icona Black’ DeLonghi, from Treviso, and after a brief chiacchierare sealed the deal, again on the demo. At home, Cona, as she’s known, is already a happy member of the kitchen family, toasting well and contributing to la dolce vita, with her lovely Italian accent and black buxomness.
Even better, she met another Italian in the kitchen – Euro gas stove, surprisingly still made in Northern Italy, so a first generation immigrant to Australia. You should hear them now, like old amiches, reminiscing about la patria.
If only we’d known Cona before last year’s trip to Italy, when we spent a night in Treviso, we might have connected with the DeLonghis. Oh, the world’s a small place!
KOOKYNIE COURIER 
ah, i still remember you guys huddling around that toaster on the floor of the cabin when the solar power got turned on! Such appreciation!
hi too bad you havent got a lidl; reducing energy consumption is one of their criteria for new models (still, what would you expect from an originally british brand?) all good here came across this in the front ground floor room, behind plasterboard still working on getting the safes within the safe open cheers ian & sue ________________________________ De : KOOKYNIE COURIER Envoyé : jeudi 1 octobre 2020 05:49 À : customshouse@hotmail.fr Objet : [New post] The Secret Life of Toasters
POH posted: ” Most of us take our household appliances for granted, but out here in the bush, with not much company around, we tend to treat ours like members of the family, or indeed loyal servants. After many years of loyal service, good old Sunbeam, who had unfortu”