Appliances last four years, if you're lucky. Our most recent victim was the vacuum cleaner battery. Four years ago the idea of going cord-free was attractive, because nothing quite produces instantaneous caveman rage like tugging the plug out of the wall because the cord isn't long enough. "Now I've got to go all the way over there and plug it in over here, where I'm already mostly done. Why was I born?"
For all its convenience, it is the most high-strung appliance I've ever owned, always having a breakdown. It is prone to hyperventilating if it aspirates a single strand of dental floss and wraps it around the drum. But I've become adept at fixing it, and like a Marine with his trusty rifle, I can field-strip it and fix it, in the dark, under fire.
After four years, though, the battery has lost its stamina. It will do one floor on low power, but don't ask it to handle a rug because it drains on high power after five seconds. Fine by me; time for a break! You recharge in your cradle while I rest from my labors.
