Describe something that was broken and that you repaired or had repaired

I would like to talk about my mother's old sewing machine, which broke down last winter and which I managed to repair with the help of my uncle. It's a heavy black machine from the nineteen-eighties, and she has used it for as long as I can remember.

One evening, while she was making a dress, she heard a loud noise, and the needle stopped moving. She tried to start it again, but it wouldn't work. She was quite upset because she makes extra money from sewing, and she had several orders to finish. The next day, she suggested buying a new machine, but I thought it was a shame to throw away something she had loved for decades. So I looked online and found some videos about this model. It turned out that a small metal part inside, which connects the motor to the needle, had snapped. My uncle, who is good with tools, helped me open the machine, and we found the part. We ordered a replacement for a few dollars from a shop in another city, and when it arrived, we installed it carefully, with oil and a bit of patience.

When it finally started working again, I felt a great sense of satisfaction and pride. I had never repaired anything so complicated, and my mother was thrilled. She hugged me and said I was a real engineer. Besides the pleasure of fixing it, I was happy because we saved a lot of money and avoided waste. It made me realise how much we throw away unnecessarily, and now I always try to find out whether something can be repaired before replacing it.