It’s not known whether the same can be said of those who live with them. A large and esoteric variety of musical instruments – including mandolins, banjos, guitars, old-school church harmonicas, ukuleles, even cowbells – were acquired during lockdown, and the majority still seem to be bringing their owners much joy.
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Those who stocked up on kit for a new or existing hobby seem mostly free of remorse, however. “It takes up a tonne of space but it’s great and it should pay itself off in just under 20 years,” says Phil Pierce of his high end model. The verdict on ice-cream makers acquired during lockdown was, sadly, more mixed.
We use it several times a week, for roasting meat and vegetables, doing the weekend fry-up and making chips, chicken wings and French bread pizza. No, you haven’t asked, but briefly, the “fryer” part is a misnomer – it’s more of a small, fast, efficient mini-oven, with the convenience of a microwave, and none of the loss of taste or texture. I stop short of keeping a picture of it on my phone but I do enthusiastically extoll its benefits to anyone unfortunate enough to ask. I didn’t get a puppy, but I have similar feelings of unalloyed joy about my lockdown airfryer.
Rick O’Shea’s dogs, adopted from the DSPCA Of course this has led to purchases of walking boots, rain jackets, dog jackets and jumpers, treats, a billion poo bags.” They include broadcaster Rick O’Shea, who says adopting two dogs was the “greatest thing that has ever happened to us. So too – thankfully – were the handful who replied to say they had bought an actual house or acquired another child.Īnimal charities warned people against impulse buying – during the great puppy boom of Lockdown 1.0, but for those who thought it through carefully and, better still, adopted instead, it seems to have been a universally positive decision. Purchasers of airfryers, heated clothes horses, decent coffee machines, hammocks, pizza ovens and pets (including dogs, cats and hens) reported themselves among the most satisfied. I asked the question on Twitter, and the results of my admittedly unscientific survey of more than 250 replies are in. What were the most successful pandemic-inspired impulse buys here, and the ones already regulated to the gadget graveyard under the spare room bed? The survey’s findings suggested that some of the buys people are having second thoughts about include gaming equipment, tools, clothes and home gym items. Personally, I would query the characterisation of a giant inflatable hot tub as “non-essential” during a global pandemic, but some market research companies clearly have no sense of adventure.
One in 20 people bought a hot tub, more than a third of whom now wish they hadn’t. Victims include those who gave in to the temptation to impulse buy a robot hoover, a treadmill or an expensive ice cream maker during lockdown.Ī recent survey of 4,000 adults in Britain found that nine in ten indulged themselves in “non-essential” lockdown “treats”, and many of them are now suffering regret. A hidden pandemic of buyer’s remorse has been sweeping undetected through homes in Ireland and Britain.