The Importance of Technology In The Modern Home
Just what will go wrong, you never can tell
because everything works – but nothing works well.
"Good enough's, good enough" is the commonest creed.
"Do as much as, no more than, the job seems to need."
The washing machine didn't work from the start
except as a dryer, well that's working in part.
They gave us another that would hold just four shirts
and jiggle them slowly to redistribute dirt.
The DVD wouldn't connect to the set
though it seemed to be working in other respects.
The player we bough to replace it's OK
but selects randomly which chapter to play.
The gas ring's remarkable – I have to admit it.
There isn't a pot in the world that will fit it.
Pots, pans and woks, unattended will tumble
leaving breakfast or dinner on the floor in a jumble.
The windows – it's true – are almost a fit
for their frames, but not quite and that little bit
is enough to let out every last drop of heat
so the apartment is cold but it's warm in the street.
That the fridge has no plug hardly matters at all –
they've connected bare wires through a hole in the wall.
And you can't move appliances, you just have to shrug –
as, between them, the rooms have six kinds of plug.
Some days there's no gas and others no power
or else there's no water for the sink or the shower
and when it comes back it's an orangey brown –
not just for us but all over the town.
We could try to complain but complain to what end?
There isn't a thing that that they'll bother to mend.
We can search out the right person to go and to tell
But he'll see, "Well it works – but it may not work well."
