The challenges of package opening and instruction reading in my 70s

My phone desperately needed to be recharged, and a new charger was needed. So off to a local department store beginning with K to find one. I did, along with a new phone case and screen protector. All was well and I sauntered off to attach the portable charger – except I could not. And the reason I could not was because the packaging was so securely attached it was utterly impossible to tear it off without some tools.

Finally, at home I hacked through the tough plastic and cardboard to release the charger. But I needed kitchen scissors and a bread knife to do so. And then the phone case and screen protector as well required the deft precision of a surgeon with a scalpel. I know it’s only a first world problem, and there are reasons for secure packaging, but hey, in the hands of a slightly cackhanded pensioner with stiff fingers, it’s like breaking out of Alcatraz for the elderly.

A trip around the supermarket brings a few other challenges. Mouthwash and other liquids that come in tightly sealed bottles. Reading glasses perched on the end of my slightly sweaty nose I peer at the small printing. Hmm. Clockwise and anti-clockwise while pressing down firmly.

Well, after an aching wrist and hand does not seem to do the trick I just don’t bother and leave it until I can get a grandchild to come and do it for me. I suppose some cleaning products are dangerous to children and that is why they have lids that are supposed to deter them, however, I have seen a toddler whip a lid off a bottle of bleach (it’s ok, they are still alive and kicking).

And instructions. I’m a pretty nifty nanna and can work most things out, but a cheap leaf blower from an online company with slightly questionable ethics totally baffles me. The PDF instructions are useless, and I’m not sure what the skinny nylon bag and hose are for – maybe it’s a vacuum cleaner as well? YouTube and Google do not bring enlightenment so I use it just to blow leaves. I should be happy, and I guess I am. It was only $40 after all.

I’ve yet to master the symbols on the air conditioner and the oven, they seem to not be the same as others I have used. I thought they would be universal, but not so. However, YouTube and Google and a bit of experimentation seem to have worked.

I do understand the reasoning behind fruit and vegetables being in little cardboard boxes with wrapping, and others being in little plastic tubs. But even ripping the aluminium lid off a yogurt tub can leave a gash on my palm. It’s refreshing to choose your own mushrooms and put them in a paper bag.

I can remember my mother going to the grocer to get a loaf of bread and a few other things, all placed in a brown paper bag. Likewise, Dad would go to the hardware store and buy a brown paper bag of nails or a screwdriver which were sitting there loose in little tubs on the shelves.

Not like my last trip to the temple of testosterone where a few nails were in a plastic case which took a bread knife to open. Was life really simpler then, or was I just oblivious to the tough realities of family life in the 1950’s? Possibly, but I’m off to find an elastoplast for my finger. I just opened a packet of cling wrap.