This ancient Emerson Electric fan was old as dirt when my husband and I bought it for ten dollars at an auction in 1985 the first summer we were married. He thought he could rewire it and get it working again; I thought it was cute. When we got it home, we were both surprised to discover that it ran like a top as soon as we plugged it in, and it cooled a room better than the brand new fan we had purchased just days before. That new fan didn’t survive to make the move to our current home, but the little Emerson still gets used every day in the summer. It’s a perfect reminder that we don’t actually need fancy or excess in our lives. Reliability, simplicity, contentment—of these things I am a big fan.
As I often say, stuff was built to last back then, and there was little "planned obsolescence" that had you running to the store every five years to get a new one. Enjoy your fan!
ReplyDeletePrecisely! It is also incredible how much air this baby moves. It's a keeper.
DeleteI know someone who lost a finger as a toddler in one of those! She lost her pinky finger on her left hand, and she learned to play the guitar backwards because of it!
ReplyDeleteBackwards?! That is incredible. Oh, those are sharp blades. Make no mistake about it. Several years ago I awoke in a major hot flash and reached out to crank the fan up. Stuck my hand straight into the blades. It wasn't pretty.
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