Asakiyume mita

One of the luxuries we have maintained is a landline. It's a great way of keeping spam off your cell phone, and it's always charged. Not only have we kept the landline, we've kept a corded phone, which means we don't need any wireless capability for it, which means it doesn't stop working if we lose wifi or power.

For the longest time we had a Panasonic corded phone, but eventually it failed. When Wakanomori went to get a replacement, the only thing that was available was a Panasonic knock-off:

~~The pashaphone~~

I somehow took it into my head that it was made for the Russian market--I think because of the name, though really that should have inclined me to Turkey?--and in fact a complete stranger on the internet started reminiscing with me about late Soviet caller-ID phones when he saw my tweet about it

But in fact the Pashaphone doesn't appear to have any connection with Russia.

It does, however have a connection with China--namely, it's made there. The whole thing is really light. In fact, it weighs about as much as the pink eraser whose tip you can see poking into the photo over to the right of the number 9. It feels like a child's toy phone.

Well, the problem with a corded phone is that sometimes you stretch the cord further than it can easily go and pull the phone off the counter and onto the floor. I've done that a couple of times already since it came to live with us, and something rattled loose inside the poor baby, so Wakanomori took it apart to see what it was....

... and we discovered a small slab of stone stuck in the phone that apparently serves no purpose other than to give it a little weight. It says 恭禧 (Gōng xǐ)--congratulations! As in, I suppose, "Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of a pashaphone!"



How many devices come with little talismans inside them, wishing us well? Not many! But there should be lots! This is a trend to be imitated--quick, alert the business schools!