Does anyone fix broken gadgets anymore?

My mum's TV has broken. It's about a 10 year old CRT, and it's served her well. But then something went kaput. She lives in west Wales, where they still have handy men who fix things for a fiver (this guy once fixed the broken play button on my cassette player when I was 15 - my hero). So she took it to him, who said "leave it with me, I'll get it fixed."

But can he can't get the part. No one has a part that would fit. So he can't fix the TV. So she has to buy a new one - spending £300.

Suddenly I feel nostalgic for the days when we used to fix stuff. Who has £300 floating around to buy a new TV? She could get one for less, if she used binoculars to view it.

Don't get me wrong - I love buying new shiny toys, but only when I chose to. And hell...a television is a necessity. She has no choice - she has to buy one. With the rate at which consumer technology is progressing, it won't be long before we can consider a product that is two years old obsolete, resigned to the recycling pile because you can't get the components to fix it anymore. I hope not. I want to chose to buy, not be forced into it.