I was sitting in the living room talking to my sister, and Julia was cutting up vegetables for tea, when we heard a click-clicking noise. My first thought was that Julia was having trouble lighting the gas hob. A quick call to check, revealed that it had just started on its own.

Queen Mary Keyring

Dismantling the burner in question revealed that it was arcing in a regular yet unprovoked manner. I also gave myself an electric shock. It wasn’t bad, but was enough to make me jump, which, in turn, was enough to make Julia and my sister tell me to be careful, and to go to the breakers in the garage and shut the power off. I then cleaned all the burners and switched it back on – same result, so we switched it off again. The gas still works without power and we lit the rings we needed using matches.

We cancelled the plans for tomorrow, ate, and then tried again. Whatever was causing the problem had gone, and we are no longer in fear of being charged an arm and a leg for calling out a highly skilled and expensive gas man. Of course, that is preferable to the more likely scenario – calling out a useless but expensive gas man.

Queen Mary key ring (reverse)

Checking on the internet, I find that this fault is caused by either damp or food debris. It would seem that either the damp has dried or the food debris has been removed with my skilled prodding.

Cutty Sark Keyring and Certificate of Authenticity

Yesterday I sent off an article on bronze keyrings made as souvenirs of the Queen Mary. This led into interesting byways regarding the Queen Mary, the great days of Atlantic crossings and the origin of the bronze that was used. Scanning eBay, I also find that they did coasters, medallions, badges and cufflinks. The company that eventually ended up producing the key rings also made some key rings using metal from a fitment on the mast of the Cutty Sark. So I ordered one. Well, two actually, as they were being offered as  a pair and were actually cheaper than some being offered as singles.

Cutty Sark keyring (reverse)