The end of an era. Today I had to replace my Nordica kettle. Not that it was particularly expensive or exclusive. In fact, it was cheap and ordinary and this is exactly why it was so painful to fork out a lot of money for a new kettle. But the old Nordica gave almost eight years of faithful service. At some point about two years ago some major internal piece fell out but it struggled on, valiantly boiling liter after liter. This past week some of the plastic inside started to flake off, but the little kettle boiled on. But no more. I have to give it a rest and retire it. I’m not too keen on drinking plastic in my coffee. Apparently, it is impossible to buy a quality kettle for a reasonable price. They are either cheap and flimsy, or expensive and somewhat high-quality. For a really top quality kettle I’d probably have to pay even more (>R1000) but that is a little too much. To be honest, I probably paid as much for the Nordica as for the new Bosch, but somehow R500 feels much more than 50 EUR. Well, I should probably think of it as relative to my income. I do not want to be too sentimental, but I am truly a little sad about the kettle replacement. It is the appliance I use most (well, the kettle and the fridge) and it has stuck with me for a long time.