this article got me thinking…
I’ve still got my portable Singer sewing machine which my Mum gave me for my 21st birthday… the machine predates me… 
Haven’t used it though, not since we came to France.
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Maybe not that old, say twenty five years but my Baby George rotisserie is still working perfectly.
It gets used a couple of times each month so definitely a good investment !
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Vanessa has one too to which a motor was attached (which burnt out).
There is a shop in Angoulême (near to Zyke IIRC) where we were able to buy a new motor and the machine will carry on for another lifetime
Interestingly, we met a guy in the local English bar in our commune who was a salesman for Singer (now retired) who went independent after Singer made him an offer he couldn’t refuse and he had a whole collection of Singer sewing machines which he loving attended. The modern ones may be fancy but they won’t have the longevity of the good old Singer. I remember my mum had one on a treadle table but I’m not sure what happened to it after she died. Maybe one of my sisters inherited it…
That looks impressive
It’s a mean machine !
A lean, mean roasting machine in fact 
Moulinex BT2C - it must be 30 years old and still going strong.
PS Stella, I’ve still got my old Singer sewing machine too, purchased 50 years ago. But my new lightweight Brother machine has made sewing much less of a tussle. I almost like doing it nowadays.
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Mum was insistent that I should learn how to sew…
Dad knew me better and gave me pearls…
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We were talking with our neighbour abour marmalade the other day, she has arthritis in her hands and we told her about the old marmalade choppers our mums used. She was delighted, but to buy an old one and get it sent over to France would cost too much.
We thought and came up with using the slicing attachment on her robot coupe.
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Not gadgets exactly, but I took over my father’s gardening tools and garage work bench (which he made) which he’d had since the 1930s. I still use them and the work bench has pride of place in our garage.
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Is anyone still in possession of a wind-up starter handle for their car? Many a winter morning I’ve had to pull my arm out of its socket trying to get my old 1943 Hillman going to get to work… 
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I’m good at winding people up in a morning no matter the weather Gobles no handle required 
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Hi Peter… yes, I do still have one… maybe two… about the garage… 
During my teenage years, my father talked me through the correct way to use one… (not that I ever actually got to have a go…)
My wife still has her mother’s old treadle sewing machine too. Not that she uses it. Prefers her own electric machine. She also refuses to swap her Nokia 3410 for a smartphone. It still works perfectly despite the fact that I once dropped it down a flight of steps in the Paris metro, reducing it to its constituent parts. I put it back together expecting it not to work but it carried on as if nothing had happened. They don’t make them like that any more!
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From memory the correct way is to engage the ‘male’ end of the handle (the bit you poke in though the slot) with the ‘female’ slot in the crankshaft. A bit graphic that, but it’s proper… engineering lingo 
…
You engage it so the resistance you feel against the compression is with the handle in the six-o’clock or seven o’clock position. This allows you to pull the handle upwards in a clockwise motion against the resistance, and a swift, firm gesture will generally be sufficient to start a well-primed and well-tuned engine at first go.
If not, you have to repeat the manoeuvre or, if all else fails, you can try the windmill or rotary egg-whisk technique. This necessitates a loose grip on the handle in case the engine fires and you risk breaking your wrist as the handle rotates with it.
Failing all else you can get a push from a friendly passer-by while you sit at the wheel with the ignition on and the engine in 2nd gear, ready to release the clutch when the car is really rolling and your pusher has run out of puff and push.
Don’t forget to give the pusher a cheery wave or a toot of appreciation 
Some are adept at DIY push starts, but it takes a gazelle-like athleticism to push the car from the driver side door pillar, jump into the moving car, engage gear, close the door, fit your seat-belt and drive away. 
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Not a gadget - but I had a cast iron skillet that belonged to my husbands grandmother. It had been part of her husband’s army issue when he went to India in the 1890’s. My husband’s eldest aunt had been born out there in about 1902. My daughter now has the skillet. It’s great. Never sticks no matter what you are cooking in it.
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In my last property I had a dishwasher from 1983 worked perfectly sad that I cold not bring it with me now days everything is made to break down after 4 years
Oh that is a shame… what was the reason you could not bring it ???
The house needed to be empty that day and I cold not fit in to my car to take it down here.