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To be fair, the comparison is a bit ridiculous. A modern mobile phone is an ultra compact, very powerful computer primarily with a data connection that is faster than many large cities had in their entirety in the 1970, and it only incidentally makes phone calls. I can’t even find an analogy...

As washer-dryers go, I would go with the biggest drum machine you can fit into the space. Miele is great but very expensive and their washer-dryers are quite small. Bosch & Siemens are essentially the same machines. Electrolux / AEG is fairly good. LG gets good reviews. Those Hotpoint washer...

A relatively modern, electronic, but budget machine with what is very likely to be a zapped control board.   There's really very little you can do other than to replace the control panel. They're usually one piece, with no user serviceable parts.   If you are going to tackle it yourself...

It’s a different design philosophy. It’s similar but different. European and IEC harmonisation is at least getting the common denominators all lined up and identical, even if differences will probably remain in Europe generally. You’re probably in some ways going to find EV charging less...

Seems they can mostly be wired 3 ways. Are both of those 16amp circuits from the same phase? Normally here we don’t have 3-phase in residential wiring at all. Cooking appliances are usually on a 32amp circuit breaker, single phase connection on 10mm2 cable. You have to have an isolating...

I would just add, I've been using induction hobs for a long time and really, I wouldn't use anything else given the choice. There's just no comparison. I've spent time in rentals due to work assignments of abroad, and often had good quality radiant ceramic hobs - which are just much, much less...

I've a 4 Zone panoramic KM 6381 which seems to draw a maximum of 7300W at 230V It's on a 32 amp 30mA RCBO. It's a pretty good hob, but to be quite honest nothing amazing, the old De Deitrich induction hob it replaced was as good, if not better. It never gave an ounce of trouble in many years of...

You see a lot of labels in Europe that will advise 20°C or 30°C, rather than the usual 40°C. Most of it is just “green washing” by clothing brands or retailers, on their “turn to 30” campaigns. They’ll point to it in some annual report brochure, claiming they’re wonderful, when in reality they...

It’s possibly they’re off by a few years, unless they’d some preview of a model before it was released for the sake of an “ideal homes expo”? Perhaps it was an English Electric prototype of upcoming models used for demo purposes or something odd. Not sure how long the lead time would have been...

It was definitely 1961 based on the history of her career. She wouldn’t have been doing that while in politics later on and that’s a very serious archive, so it’s highly unlikely the dates aren’t accurate. https://esbarchives.ie/2018/11/14/modern-living-country-style-1961/ Presentation style...

They come in a blueish green or pink tablet. There are different versions and the tablets aren’t stamped. It’s quite possible they were a job lot / excess stock from somewhere. Assuming it’s the same product, they perform better than Finish classic and are a higher end detergent with more...

Starchy old ESB film from 1961 in Ireland This was produced as part of the Rural Electrification Scheme, which was still very much running as an active programme in the 1960s:   The presenter, or at least the presentation style they used, would make Hyacinth Bucket seem a little rough around...

WWII obviously played a huge part, but the level of protectionism is quite hard to even understand from the perspective of 2020, and the same applied in the USA, but it was a HUGE internal market.    If you could imagine a USA where if a washing machine was made in say Texas, you had to pay a...

Yeah those pink ones are on sale here too. I think we basically get the same range as Benelux, especially post Brexit, as Irish supply chains have shifted away from being plugged into UK distribution. The boxes are labelled in English, French and Dutch. Or sometimes English, French and German...

It was also just a rather dogmatic policy on currency, trade that didn't really add up and protectionism around a group of local manufacturers who hadn't innovated and had a captive market. Without going into to the depth of politics, the dawn of affordable automatic washing machines in the...

Probably a budget version of the same product line. They’re called “Sun Expert” here and come in multiple versions - extra shine, extra power, eco and a gel. Although, I’m sure we’re probably paying over the odds. I’ve found it to be a good detergent though. Performs as well as Finish and...

I'd love to see Henkel push into the Irish market for detergents. For whatever reason, they haven't really touched the laundry or dishwashing market here or in the UK. I don't know if perhaps Brexit might change that, as we're no longer seen as part of the same market as Britain, so we might...

Based on Northern Telecom (Nortel) Harmony That Ireland map phone was based on the chassis of a very standard issue Nortel Harmony phone that were one of their more popular rental models in the 1980s. I still have one plugged into VoIP and it works a charm despite being probably close to 40...

Probably our most memorable 1980s phone from Telecom Éireann (Ma Bell’s Irish equivalent) Built by Nortel in Galway

I moved to fibre a few years ago and got rid of the physical landline service. It's provided as VoIP through a FritzBox router.    It's a quirky little device, but slightly overkill these days. It's a really excellent router with a mesh network, but also has a heap of VoIP functions, including...