A correction is owed, and I believe in corrections being made promptly, which is why this one is only four months late.
In April I wrote about the Multi-Mini But Mighty and declined to publish my ranking of its four configurations, then published it in the last line, which is the sort of thing I do. The ranking was: three, one, four, two. I stand by the reporting. It was accurate at the time.
It is no longer accurate.
I noticed in July, the way one notices these things — not all at once, but as a pattern in the data. Configuration one had been selected on four consecutive occasions. Configuration three, the long-standing incumbent, had not been selected since June. I checked this against my recollection, which is not what it was, and then against the facts, which were unambiguous. The incumbent had been quietly deposed.
The revised ranking is: one, three, four, two. Configuration two remains fourth, which will please Gerald, who has never known it exists.
I have no explanation for the change and I will not be seeking one. Preferences move. The reasons are not owed to anyone, including me. I re-ran the assessment in August to be thorough — twice, once at a civilised hour and once at ten to four in the morning, an hour I have been seeing a good deal of lately — and the result held. One, three, four, two. The record is hereby corrected.
[Margaret asked why I was making notes. I said I was conducting an audit. She asked of what. I said assets. She nodded, because Margaret respects an audit.]
Here is the part I want on the record properly. If I had bought a single-purpose object in April — one that did only what configuration three does — it would now be in the drawer with everything else that was accurate at the time. Instead the same £89 object carried on, one sleeve over. Nothing was returned. Nothing was replaced. Nothing was googled at midnight with the browser set to private. The product accommodated the correction, which is more than can be said for most things.
The ranking changed. The object didn't have to.
£89. Four sleeves, one core. Sixty days to decide, full cash refund — the terms are in writing, as ever. Though a guarantee is of limited use to a customer who is four months in and keeping it.
Margaret asked how the audit came out. I told her the assets were performing. She said good, and that was the end of the conversation, which is how the best conversations end.
Yours, in the corrected record,
ch.
