For want of a hinge

We've been in this house for over 18 years - which is scary enough in itself, since in the first 18 years of my life, I lived in 5 different houses and in each of those houses, it felt as if I'd lived in them for years and years and years - and for that entire time, our fridge has been hinged The Wrong Way. It has been quite unambiguously The Wrong Way, since the fridge is right next to the door, and when open, the open door faces out into the hall rather than into the room like any sensible fridge would do.

If we ever consciously noticed this, we just shrugged and put it down as One Of Those Things - a minor irritant, but what could you do? But my Dad, when visiting, seemed to find it quite outrageous - an offence against nature, almost - and asked why on earth we hadn't dropped everything the minute we moved in and changed the hinge to the other side, and what sort of human were we that we could tolerate this - were we man or animal? We didn't quite dare admit that we hadn't actually realised that changing the hinge direction was possible - although, really, the fact that the fridge door has handle-inserts on both sides should have been the clue. "Um, we're used to it now, and it would be confusing to change," was all we managed.

And so it went on. Years passed. The Wrong Hinge issue became something one just accepted, like gnats.

But then our CD players started to die. ( CDs and fridges )