Last weekend we kept having power cuts. It is extrordinary how one suddenly thinks "oh, well, I'll do some ironing if I can't watch television", and similar ideas all involving electricity-related activities. I did have one happy thought; I have a storm-kettle; a piece of kit which is almost entirely irrelevant to modern life, but is of such beautiful simplicity that I couldn't resist it. You can see where the water goes in; the genius is that the container is ring-doughnut shaped, so that the centre is actually a chimkney for the fire which you can see glowing in the fire tray at the bottom. A few dry twigs and leaves will provide enough heat to rapidly boil a pint or so of water, as the heat is all drawn up through the central chimney.
The
Well, I thought the easiest way to fill the storm kettle would be to use the kettle. However, as I reached over to lift it, I switched it on (a sort of automatic action) and it burst into life. So I let carry on and made the coffee the easy way. Oh well. No playing with fire today - just have to wait until next time.