What is it about toasters?

I don't know about you but I've had so many toasters in my life I've lost count. 

My work-day breakfast routine includes a piece of toast with jam or honey and a cup of coffee,  and if I don't have a toaster that works, well, you can imagine the rest. This kick-start to the day has to be right.

I'd purchased yet another toaster during lockdown. The predecessor was off its nut, burning the bread to cinders no matter the setting. So this one arrives by courier, all shiny and flash looking and I unpacked it with glee, all ready to plug in and enjoy. Lockdown has meant many things but in this case, it meant I could not peruse the toasters in the shop so had to look at them online and pick. I thought I'd done pretty well.

So off we go. Toast in, slide down, coffee ready. 

Boom.

Well, a loud 'thunk' that struck a chord of familiarity for me. Said new toaster tripped the electrical failsafe for the whole house.  No power anywhere. Fortunately I knew how to remedy this with a reset of the switch.

Can you imagine the exasperation: coffee ready to go, butter and jam standing by, hungry writer ready to start work, a new, glamourous but defective toaster smugly proud of its ability to destroy it all.

What to do? Dig out the old pyromaniac toaster from the garage and put up with it.

I've had cheap toasters, top of the range toasters and it doesn't seem to make any difference. They have all bitten the crumbs after what seems to me to be an inordinately short time.

Now I think this short-circuiting toaster is reflective of what's going on for me right now. Our city of Auckland has been pinned down by the arms and legs by COVID restrictions for about four months and my circuits are overloaded.

This evil minded toaster sent me over the edge. It doesn't take much to trip my failsafe. I think a lot of us are short-circuiting right now. 

I just want a toaster that works. I want a nice piece of toast with my coffee without having to worry about the toaster blowing up the house. 

Is that too much to ask? 

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