Saturday morning Blue text = a clickable link. To highlight pictures please click themTomorrow morning, Saturday 16 March 2024, I expect to see a scene similar to this one below, when Ngaio Repair Cafe opens for the first time this year. Voluntary repairers wearing name tags, work to fix various items that people from the local community bring along to be repaired. It's a busy chatting place as the repairers find out what the problems are, while the owners learn about their items and maybe find out how to fix them should faults recur. Saturday morning - moreElectrical and electronic household items are frequently brought in so we have qualified technicians, - volunteers again - equipped to deal with those. Kitchen necessities such as toasters, mixers and electric frypans are commonplace but so are many other electric and electronic devices including music keyboards, phones, tablets, dehumidifiers, radios, and even Christmas lights. Fabric repair also features on Saturday mornings. We deal with cushion, blanket and backpack repairs, and lots of clothes, including zip replacements, trouser seams and cuffs, jerseys, jeans and various miscellaneous mendings. Not just in Aotearoa, New ZealandIn thinking about fixing things, I came across a well-put piece in the British website Good Housekeeping. Emilie Martin wrote it in January last year. 'From clothing to small electricals, it’s no secret that today it’s often easier to bin and replace damaged items or things that no longer work than it is to find someone who can repair them – and it’s often cheaper, too. 'However, research shows that millions of thrifty and environmentally minded households in the UK are trying to do more to repair or renovate items instead of simply replacing them, research from Aviva has shown. A poll by the insurer shows that almost a third (31%) of respondents are doing so to prevent things going to landfill and just over half (54%) are motivated by saving money.' That's encouraging isn't it, even if beautifully ideally the figures should have been around the other way? Deeper purposeThen Emilie Martin gives two examples of how fixing and reusing affect deeper purposes. 'A smartphone, for example, contains a range of metals and minerals including copper, manganese, lithium and cobalt. Unless these are sourced from recycled material, they will need to be mined and refined before they can be used to manufacture a new handset. Meanwhile, around 10,000 litres of water are required to produce a single pair of jeans, according to the United Nations. It’s not hard to see, then, that increasing the longevity of our possessions places less strain on the planet’s natural resources.' TomorrowAs one of the organisers, I will be disappointed tomorrow, if we don't in Ngaio Repair Cafe deal with nearly 100 items during our three hour stint from 10 am to 1pm. Already enquires have been coming in. "Do you sharpen knives?" “Could you fix a Rocking Chair?” “What about a dehumidifier?” “How about an old-fashioned clothes drier – one of those metal things you unfold then stand up?” And the answer always is, “Bring it in and we’ll have a look.” We can’t always fix things but based on 2023’s experience our repair rate on the day is about 70%. Sometimes, though, people need to go and buy a part and come back on the third Saturday of the following month. And sometimes a repairer will suggest a professional firm to whom it would be worth taking the item. All that, I think, is better than throwing something in the bin.
John McInnes Friday 15 March 2024 ##########
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