They don't make 'em like this any more.

Earlier in the year, I went to Brighton for the weekend, and frankly, I wish I hadn't bothered. It's not Brighton's fault; it seems like a nice city and has several good restaurants and at least one excellent bookshop; I'm sure I'll be back.

However, for various reasons, I was tired, cranky and morose. It was far too hot, the cheapest room at the Metropole lacks a decent amount of natural light and is a silly shape, the trains were tedious enough to make me wish for the concrete embrace of the M25, and mid way through the trip, I managed to put my seven year old Kindle 4 in a back pocket and sit on it.

Needless to say, this was not a good idea, and the screen ended up busted because of it.

Ah well, you say. Seven years was a good innings, now stop complaining and buy yourself a new one. Trouble is, I don't want a new one - partly because I can't believe Amazon are still charging the same headline price as in 2012, and partly because I don't want a flipping touchscreen. I've used my parents' touchscreen ones and I find the page turning gestures unnatural and pointless. I just want the same device I've been used to for the better part of a decade, with buttons for turning the pages.

Well, fortunately I managed to bag one on eBay which was allegedly boxed and never used (unwanted gift or something). "New old stock" is the way to go here - I tried a second hand one first, and the battery life was terrible - I've no idea what the previous owner did to it, but eventually the WiFi died on me as well.

Get 'em while they still exist. There's even an option to sync collections from your old, busted, one if you dig deep enough into the menus.