Diary

My mother had been using the same kitchen stove for exactly fifty years. Made by ETNA. Indestructible quality indeed. But over the past few years it had developed a few minor problems... So my sister and I (plus our partners of course) decided something had to be done. A new stove was called for! And there was a good excuse for giving a present because, you could have guessed this: Today was also their 50st. anniversary. On their wish-list was just a micro wave oven, but we added the stove...


My parents are not into modern equipment at all (this microwave is really a big step forward ) and also cooking on gas is not their thing. Fortunately we have managed to find a good replacement for them: A modern cooking-range that is just as simple to use as the old one.


The stove had been delivered without a power cord. The guy in the shop said it would be easy to use the old power cord for the new stove. I think this idea is penny-wise, but pound-foolish really: Why make a problem of a cheap power cord when you are buying equipment worth several hundred Euros?!?

So we decided to try using the old power cord. First we took it off the old stove. It was a lot newer than the rest of the stove: it had been replaced just 39 years ago.
Of course the insulation had become very brittle and it broke off as soon as you touched it. So we had to go to the DIY-shop for a new power cable. In Alblasserdam the DIY-shop is Hornbach. To be honest I had never heard of that company, but it turned out to be a very big, well-assorted shop. They had everything we needed: A five-wire cable and a five-way plug, specifically intended for use on electric kitchen stoves.

So my brother-in-law Gert and I had a little construction job to do that afternoon. And when this was done, we proceeded to demonstrate the stove and the microwave by preparing a meal for the family. My parents were now equipped for cooking another half-century...
And the old stove was ready to take to a vintage electronics museum!

Labels: Electronics

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