In one of those interesting exercises where I had to describe
myself, I included the descriptor 'conservative'--not in a
political sense, but just in terms of general opinions. My
colleague, who knows me excellently, was, understandably,
surprised by this.

I think I've figured out why I described myself thus: I don't like
changing stuff just for the sake of it when it's already perfectly
good. I do appreciate well-placed innovation, but I don't like
misapplied renovation. I admire companies that keep selling the
same products for 10, 20, 50 years. It usually means the products
are pretty good.

I like it when things are what you expect because it gives me that.
'I know this shit' feel-good vibe. I like to be able to walk into a
takeaways I've never been to before and order three or four dishes
without ever looking at the menu. (I have actually done this.) I
like to be able to walk into the supermarket and actually find
stuff. I like to be able to have an Eggs Benedict on English
muffins, not this Twitter-generation hashcake nonsense.