My wife tells me that I’m patient with people, but impatient with things.

I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do know that I get annoyed at mediocre, low quality products.

Case in point. Yesterday the tap on our water filter broke AGAIN. We’ve had this water filter for around 7 years and in that time I’ve bought more than 7 taps for it. They seem to last anywhere between 6-12 months (or in some cases only weeks), and then they start to drip or break.

The problem is, I can’t seem to find anyone who will sell me a higher quality tap. All the shops seem to stock is cheap, nasty, low quality, plastic crap. I’d gladly pay for a higher quality tap (I’ve spent more money on taps than on the water filter itself), but our society and market often seems to be geared towards quick profit rather than value for money, hence cheap and nasty products.

It’s the reason why I have to buy a new kettle every 2 years, or a new set of headphones every 12 months, or another DVD player to replace the most recent broken one.

Needless to say, I try avoid $2 shops and warehouse clearances whenever possible!

But of course the other way to look at it is that I should just take a chill pill. People are starving for goodness sake, should I really get so uptight about needing a new watch strap again already?

Well, sometimes I think if I didn’t pour so much money down the drain on rubbish, I’d have a bit more to help them with.

Rant over.