Any Old Iron

   






























I found this in the market for 3 euros and bought it to add to our collection of antique irons.  This is a very early electric iron with a wooden handle for insulation and comfort.  There is no thermostat or anything: you just plugged it in, waited for it to heat up and guessed the heat.  You could judge the heat quite well by spitting on it.  The brand name is a bit scary  - SPARK

Huge Moon

 

I took this photo at sunset last night.    I did not use any special lenses or a tripod ... it is just a quick snapshot in ideal conditions.  I am very impressed by the detail in the photo.  Although it doesn't look it, the sky was still blue at the time and that was the secret.  It is actually much more tricky to get a good photo of the moon at night, even though appears to be brighter and sharper.

Moissac Abbey

Sometimes, when you go into the Abbey at Moissac, you will find it empty but full of music.  That's because it has a very high quality organ and organists love to practice on it.  We were meeting Linda for lunch outside the Abbey and we arrived very early so we went inside and this is a clip of what we heard.  It was a young woman playing her heart out, enjoying the magnificent sound.

Big Stag Beetle

 

This creature was annoying Marion the other night by flying around too close to the table at the bottom of the garden so I swatted it into the pool.  Next morning, I had to fish it out of the skimmer.

Scary Lady

 

We were having a coffee with apricot tart in Moissac when I noticed this scary woman at the other table.  I think it was the bright red lipstick and the unusual hairstyle that caught my eye.  Slowly it began to dawn on me: I had actually met her somewhere before.  But where?  The name David Brown drifted into my mind.  That's it!  She is a famous American chef who lives on a barge near Agen and runs a cookery school on the barge.  I have seen the barge on TV on a cookery programme and I still can't quite remember where we met.

Not So Much a Swimming-pool, More A Hot Tub

We really need the swimming pool here!  Today the temperature in the shade is 32C and the poolwater is up at 27C.  Even so, it really cools you down.

Spent the morning working on the pool to get it back into order.  Because the weather here has been so terrible, it means more wind and rain which leads to much more dust and dirt in the pool.  It all has to be hoovered and filtered for days to get it clear.  At the same time, I have to add dilute acid to raise the pH because the tap water is very alkaline.  A further complication is that the pump would not work when we got here because the condenser had failed and that means that the electric motor will not start every time it is switched on.  I know how to do it by hand but we can't rely on the timer to switch it on and off.

Frank has ordered a new condenser so it should be fixed in a few days.

Wheel Trouble

The drive down to Portsmouth was OK but when we got to France, where the roads are smoother and the speed limit 10 mph faster, I noticed that the steering wheel wa shaking a lot.  That usually means wheel trouble.

Took the car to a garage in Valence today and they agreed that it must be the fault of the new tyres.  They had to take all four wheels off and balance every one using a special machine.  It cost 53 euros to get them fixed.

I am pretty angry about this because when you get new tyres fitted, part of the cost includes re-balancing them.  It isn't just a matter of the wheel shaking: being out of balance damages the car as well.

New Wheels, Ready To Roll

I chanced to look at the front wheels of the car recently and noticed with horror that they were getting near to the legal limit of wear.  Certainly not enough tread left to do the 2,000-mile round trip to France plusall the extra miles we do when we are there.  Luckliy the tyre place near Sainsbury's had a set of the right size and type in stock and in the space of 20 minutes, I had four new tyres.  All we have to do now is to pack the car early this Monday and we'll be ready to drive to the ferry at Portsmouth.

My First Payslip

I was sorting out some boxes of old papers and things when I found this envelope which I thought I had lost. The date on the letter is 1948 so I must have been five years old.  I got a 2/6 coin we called a half-crown.  It was worth a lot then even though in decimal money it would be only 12.5p.

My mother was an actress with the famous Glasgow Unity Theatre group and the play must have needed some small children.  The only thing I really remember is that I was also given a Cadbury's chocolate bar (remember sweets were strictly rationed) which was like a small box of Dairy Milk chocolates all fused together so that each piece had a different centre.  It must have blown my tiny mind because I can still see it in my hand!

Herald Diary, Today

 

Dog Scared Of Its Own Farts

It seems to be true!  Watch THIS