This might sound a bit weird but we have been through four irons in the last 18 months.The first three I chucked out thinking they were just broken but today after my electric blew out again I started to wonder,is there something in the way the houses are wired that makes sensitive to irons!Have got the equivalent of mount Eversest in the ironing basket at the moment,so any pointers gratefully recieved.....or another trip to the shops tomorrow!

Everything you buy in Aus is thrown together by slave labour in China as cheaply as possible. DVD players, TV's, pruning shears, hoes... it doesn't matter - none of it lasts long.

yeah,you're probably right.Also broken in the past year,just off the top off my head are:Toaster,stereo,hand blender,hair clippers,laundry basket,window blind,DVD player,kettle,2 pairs of thongs,computer screen,hoover....lot of $s that's for sure.

I have a Black and Decker Iron which I am still using after twenty years

I bought one of these a while back:

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Philips_Elance_3100__6320498

Pretty impressed with it so far, and it was only $69 from KMart.

Is it one of those you put hot coals into???

Crikey, this sounds so boring but I swear by Philips irons. They were the only ones to survive the corridors of the Nurses Home when I was training!

Sounds like you are destined to be a crinkly one

We have a kettle and toaster and a dvd player we got in Oz three years agao and are still going strong.

Well, we haven't had any electrical items stop working in the past 3 years...and several are very old.

I reckon you need to call your local electrician and explain the problem.

(he might not be able to do much about your thongs or laundry basket though)