Life has certainly changed since I was growing up in the 1940s and 1950s. Here are some of the key inventions that have made life better for me and for all sentient Americans.
1) the retractable vacuum cleaner cord. Truly one heck of an improvement. Just step on the little lever, and the cord comes flying back into the machine. It used to be, I’d waste minutes tying the thing up only to watch it immediately unravel.
2) fitted sheets. Just snap them on and have done with it. Perhaps the greatest improvement in standard of living in my lifetime. No more folding under and then waking up in the middle of the night sleeping on the mattress tufts.
3) the bungee cord. A stroke of true genius. For packing the top of the car, an unparalleled innovation. And nowadays, I keep a pair of them strapped to the lawn-tractor cart. I use the bungee cords to double the load that I can carry in one trip.
4) luggage wheels. Pull instead of carrying. What a concept!! Luggage, marooned for centuries in the paleolithic, finally discovers the wheel (and just in time to save my shoulders).
5) the mute button. Just a flick of the thumb and the commercial voice disappears. A godsend.
That’s my top five. Any other suggestions out there in the blogworld will be sincerely appreciated.
November 30. I’m so chagrined. I’ve forgotten the most remarkable invention of the last several decades: duct tape. In our household, duct tape holds together more items than gravity.
Leave a Reply