Week 283: Expensive plastic

The small crack in the shelf in the fridge door has graduated to a big crack, and a shard even fell out. I looked up the spare part – it’s just a squared-off polystyrene bucket – and it costs £82! That’s one eighth of the cost of the entire fridge! Unfortunately, the extended warranty on the fridge was only for three years, and this is closer to five years old. However, I did find the same part for sale from France, with free delivery, taxes paid, for half the price, so I’ve ordered it from there. It takes a little longer, but I’ll put up with a few days’ delay to get it for half the price. I found a mechanical keyboard for £5.50 in a charity shop, and, after a quick search to see whether it’s possible to flash new firmware (yes), bought it. It didn’t work as a keyboard when I plugged it in, but I could see it was recognised as a USB device. I compiled QMK and flashed it, and it worked! I think it was just set up as a Bluetooth keyboard before; flashing it made it work as a USB…