Measuring Tape

 

As a boy I watched my grandfather use his tape measure - it has a big red button to retract the tape. 

The tape measure was recently given to me. The first foot had a lot of damage and it was hard to use. It also lacked metric markings.

When I looked for a replacement tape blade I found that The Evan's measuring tape was a well loved artifact and is even collected by enthusiasts. Replacement blades were expensive and with freight some offered prices were over $100. And none of the replacement blades were metric.

Instead I purchased a 2 metre metric tape measure with the same blade width for less than $6 from my favourite hardware warehouse. Then I transferred the measuring blade from the new tape measure to the Evan's tape measure.

For curiosity, I disassembled the Evan's tape measure and it is in perfect condition internally - no wonder people collect them.

The tape measure is now ready for another 50 years service.

I also note that the Evan's tape measure has no plastic components and  the $6 tape measure is plastic except the spring and the measuring blade.

Wax on

As I wandered through my favourite hardware warehouse, I saw a product new to me - food safe wax.

I have now waxed all the cutting boards in the kitchen and in the caravan.

They were all looking very pale and worn out and they were starting to crack. they look much better now.

 

Even less bathroom plastic

Left - original blades in plastic holder

Centre - box of 200 new blades

Right top - New blades in cardboard box

As I neared the end of my first packets of double edge razor blades I ordered some more. 

I purchased a box of 200 as the price was low. To my delight they contain no plastic at all. Serendipity. 

47 Years of Growth

Forty seven years ago the tree at the centre of the photo was as tall as me.

Also the park - Harrup Park - had no fence and no lights, it was an undeveloped cricket ground. 

Now there are turf pitches and boundary fences and grand stands. In the empty dark the bush stone-curlews would make their hauting calls. 

Tonight, behind the glare, cricket is being played. The stone-curlews are hiding in the adjacent streets.

Foxtail

In the 1980s a new species of palm was discovered in far North Queensland. In order tp protect the wild trees from poachers, many trees were grown and passed to local governments to plant in parks and to nurseries for sale to the public. 

In thr 1980s the bright red seeds were worth $50 each. Now they are ignored as they rot on the ground in the car park.

It is still a beautiful palm with lovelly seeds.

Treasure Island 2

 

Jim Hawkins and the Curse of Treasure Island by Francis Bryan (Frank Delaney, Irish novelist) [2001, ISBN 1- 84255-213-9]

The great joy in this book is the use of language in the spirit of the original Treasure Island. It has a pursuit, capture and escape; violent action and parley; disguise and mystery.

A  modern criticism of this book is that there is no gender/cultural diversity, all characters are english or scottish men apart from Hawkin's mother and the mysterious woman. 

At the conclusion attentive readers will realise that not every mystery has been resolved. Maybe the author left open the option for a sequel. 

I urge the reader first re-read the original tale by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Tak...tak...tak

 

The playing pieces I made myself by slicing up a stick and a piece of rail. The board is a piece of cloth cut with pinking shears to stop it fraying. It is a homemade game of Tak.

The rules to Tak are simple as they are in all the best games. But the play is complex.

Tak was once an imaginary game in the fantasy book A Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss [2011, ISBN 987-0-7564-0407-9]. I have read the book many times, it is a great adventure - but I cannot recommend it. It is volume two of a trilogy and the third volume is yet to be published. 

The story is told in flashback, each volume is covers the tale as told over one day in a remote inn. It is a the tale of a talented child who witnesses his parents murder and then overcomes extraordinary hardship to become a talented musician and adventurer. So far a common but well told fantasy story. The twist seems to be that he is a broken man - he has failed to avenge his parents' death, he has lost his love, and he has unleashed horrors upon the world. Volume Three is expected to be one more day so how can anything be resolved in the protagonist's favour.

But Tak is fun.