Monday's musings

The toilet seat in the downstairs cloakroom has just broken. (I'll spare you a picture!) We have had to buy a new one. Why? Because a washer – hardly bigger than this letter O – has broken and the screw which holds it on has corroded too much to be removable. So an otherwise perfect wooden toilet seat is consigned to the scrapheap. This is the third item in recent weeks that has had to be scrapped because of the failure of some tiny part or other. I do wish manufacturers would put as much effort into making the little bits as they do into the prettiness and complexity of their products.

Here's another creation with a design fault. It's a wonderful thing – a striker that creates a spark and can start a fire in any circumstances. But the handle is too small and holding it is made even more awkward by the positioning of the chain through the middle. Such a little thing and so easy to have got it right.

(Photo from the web - no copyright details known)

Having commented on books versus films the other day I did something most unusual and watched the start of a TV series of the book 'Birdsong' (ranked 10/10 in my book blog). I was curious to see if they could make it half as excellent as the book and to my surprise it was very good, not least because of the presence of Clémence Poésy as Isabelle. I appreciate beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder but in my view she is extremely attractive.

I am not sure how lucky we are to have fruit and vegetables all year round nowadays. It makes recipe planning a lot easier but I miss the anticipation of things coming into season. As children we used to look forward to the days of early July when the first West Country strawberries would arrive here on Merseyside. Mum's birthday in mid-July would often be celebrated with Scottish strawberries or those from the local Lydiate fields. Nowadays we can have strawberries all year round and they have lost a lot of their excitement and exotic feel.

And finally, a question. Why do we blokes get asked questions to which there is no sensible answer? After making a very weird statement the other day Partner-who-drinks-tea asked “Does that sound stupid?” Can anyone tell me what the appropriate acceptable answer might be?