Once Works Well was pure technology. Now it seeks merely to divert.
Pansy subjects - Verse! Opera! Domestic trivia! - are now commonplace.
The 300-word limit for posts is retained. The ego is enlarged

Friday, 30 May 2008

In any case I used a PC

Guess which is the better pencil-sharpener. That's right, the one on the right. It either came in a Christmas cracker or cost tuppence-ha'penny at Woolworths.

The other has settings for four different points (stubby to stiletto), a clamp to hold the pencil secure, a sliding tray to catch the shavings and a glass porthole on top so you can watch the grinding bits at work. But you could tell from Day One it would disappoint. Underneath the base is a rubber sucker which is supposed to attach it temporarily to a table-top. It never did.

I can't imagine what it cost because I was given it as a douceur when I was still a working journalist. Luckily I approved of the source beforehand and so my copy was published uncorrupted.

There's a moral here somewhere.

3 comments:

Lucy said...

I wonder might I request a post on garlic crushers?

Unknown said...

The smell of raw timber and grated lead which accompanies pencil sharpening with one of these machines is a pleasure. So is the easy response of the machinery as you turn the polished handle.

I use the side of the sabatier blade for garlic crushing, but perhaps that is a bit crude.

Roderick Robinson said...

Lucy: Your wish is my command