Treasure

9 September 2005

Ronson I’m very dirty at the moment, having spent the day in the garden heaving soil here and there. Other people would have jumped straight into the shower, but I prefer to stew in my own filth for a while, cos otherwise I don’t get all the nutrients, you see.

My very bones will indeed be aching tomorrow as I’ve dug over my now empty vegetable patch – even empty of weeds, for a wonder! I’ve also dug up a few unwanted plants in Juniper Lodge’s garden, planted my new azalea (which I bought in Suffolk) and moved my alpine mint. It’s looking a bit leggy and forlorn at the moment as it had previously been sat on rather heavily by an errant lavender, which is now in the bin for its sins.

While digging stuff, I came across an old lighter. I don’t know quite how it’s been avoided being found all these years, with all the digging Dad did of that area of the garden and all the digging I’ve done in more recent years. I managed to chip off quite a lot of the mud, rust and general crap from it and discovered that it’s a Ronson lighter.

I (naturally) did a bit of Google research, but I can’t find a picture of one with the same design on it. However, judging by it’s size and shape, it’s quite an old model. The picture on the left shows it from the side and the detail of the base. The circle on the left is marked with “open for flint”. Although, who flint is, and why the hell he can’t open it for himself, remains unclear.