Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
What is the most superannuated device that you still use?
My 30-year-old Panasonic portable stereo. Not so smart but still faithfully serves its purpose.
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
• Probably my clothes line, since I seem to be the only person in my neighbourhood who uses it on every possible occasion. But the sheets smell so much sweeter.
Joan Dawson, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
• My typewriter.
David Hart, Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, Spain
• The wheel. I’m told it was invented even before I was born, yet I persist in spinning mine.
Bryan Smith, Sweaburg, Ontario, Canada
• My late father’s toolbox.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• An ancient cassette player for my ancient but precious cassette tapes.
Margaret Wilkes, Perth, Western Australia
• Iron Age-style finger shears to clip my chives.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• My left leg, followed by my right.
John Benseman, Auckland, New Zealand
• A magnetic compass. It is a very ancient device and when sailing my yacht I use it all the time. It has known errors, does not need any power input and never breaks down.
Bill McIndoe, Dunedin, New Zealand
Twinges in the hinges
What is so complicated about old age?
Old age is simple, especially if you define it as five years older than you are.
David Isaacs, Sydney, Australia
• You’re pretty sure about the ending but somehow you seem to have lost the plot.
Noel Bird, Boreen Point, Queensland, Australia
• You think you should be slowing down, but you suddenly realise you’ve got to start learning new things faster than you ever did before.
Jean Robertson-Molloy, London, UK
• Not being young enough for so much.
Edward P Wolfers, Austinmer, NSW, Australia
• Don’t get personal.
Charlie Bamforth, Davis, California, US
• It keeps reinventing itself.
RM Fransson, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, US
• Nothing at all, other than remembering which pill to take when.
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
• Say that again?
Sunil Bajaria, London, UK
• Age is just a number and old is an attitude. Not complicated at all!
Avril Taylor, Dundas, Ontario, Canada
• You do not know which part is going to fail next.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• Twinges in the hinges.
Jim Neilan, Dunedin, New Zealand
Can they signal happy face?
What are eyebrows for?
For younger women, to be plucked and painted. For older men, to become bushy and grey.
Reiner Jaakson, Oakville, Ontario, Canada
• They are the original emoticons.
Bill Folkerts, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Any answers?
Which advice should you take with a pinch of salt?
Aoife Hanley, Kiel, Germany
What do we do when we can’t charge the battery?
Mary Oates, Perth, Western Australia
Send answers and more questions to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com
