Sunday, September 25, 2011

cloud goose lighter


Posted by Picasa Although in my memory our holiday was cloudless there was one afternoon when the weather became interesting and cloud formations built up to be photographed.

Bill tells us outside the pub how one day walking with his wife on a beach in Spain he saw some geese penned up behind chicken wire on the edge of the sand. For some reason the notice in English pinned to the wire remained in his mind: "Do not food the goose."

Geoff has a Zippo lighter which reminds me of distant days when I used to smoke and possessed one myself. Examining it I realize that it is one of those  simple objects of which the design seems impossible to better. Rectangular in shape it has not changed for decades,  replacing its wadding, flints and wick as ever part of the pleasure of using it. It doesn't blow out in the wind and there is invariably the smell of petrol when click it into flame, for some a disadvantage, for others part of the charm. It is still made in Bradford, Pennsylvania, where the company was launched in 1932.

1 comment:

The Crow said...

I well remember my father repacking and refueling his Zippo, which was embellished with miniature brass longhorn cattle horns on the body. Your post evoked nice memories, including the aroma of the lighter fluid when the lighter was lit.

(For what it's worth, I used to like smelling gasoline fumes as the car tank was being refilled, too. Of course, that might account for my peculiar personality all these years later.)

I like fooding the crows, but don't have many goose visitors. Neat sign.