> time to run it after not touching it for 4 years

> Two hours of my life gone...

Two hours of work after 4 years sounds ... perfectly acceptable?

And it would have run perfectly right away if the node version was specified, so a good learning, too

This feels like making a mountain out of a mole hill

> Two hours of my life gone, just to pick up where I left off.

If I had only wasted two hours every time I had to use npm for some reason I'd be significantly ahead of where I am now.