Upstairs Downstairs
Christmas in the Steerforth household has been a subdued affair. With impeccable timing, I came down with “swine flu” on Christmas Eve and have been upstairs in bed ever since.
Two days later, my wife started to sound like Fenella Fielding and began demanding paracodol.
She is now worse than me, although that may be the result of her decision to tackle the symptoms head on by drinking a bottle of wine. I have been more cautious, taking a few tentative sips of port, like a consumptive Victorian gentleman.
In all of this, my mother has been the heroine of the hour.
Like a special agent called out of retirement for one final mission, my mother has taken charge of the children, introducing them to the delights of white bread and egg and chips, whilst managing to make our kitchen look tidier than ever. It has been good for her and great for us.
During one of my more delirious moments, I began to feel as if my entire adult life had been an illusion and I was really back home, in Teddington, listening to my parents in the room below. As if on cue, my mother cleared her throat and the theme tune to “Upstairs Downstairs” boomed through the floorboards.
Later, my wife explained that it has returned for a new series (if you can call three episodes a series):
I caught up with the first episode on the BBC iPlayer and to my amazement, it wasn’t crap. Admittedly, Tom Stoppard’s son Ed wasn’t fantastic, playing the role of Sir Hallam Holland in the style of a regional sales manager for a chain of East Midlands car exhaust centres. But the rest of the cast were spot on (particularly the monkey) and it was particularly wonderful to see the return of Jean Marsh as Rose:
I can’t wait for the next series.
Grassopper Studio Chair
The Grasshopper incorporates the same seat as the the low Wonky chair; perforated steel. The back is cold molded plywood. The steel has been acid etched and clear lacquered. The seat back has gloss polyurethane. Via Design Don’t Panic.
-priscilla giler
MakerBot Printable Transistors
Is there anything the MakerBot can’t do?
The Unicorn Pen Plotter is a versatile addition for anyone’s MakerBot.
Mr.Kim and John Sarik saw the magic in the Unicorn, and when they put their heads together some interesting developments soon emerged.
Ice Harvest
Back in the days before the modern convenience of refrigeration, this is how people keep their food (read: their beer) ice cold. Men would harvest blocks of ice from frozen lakes and ponds with a horse & plow and giant saw. Workers would then load the slabs of ice into a spring house or an icehouse to sell to people for use in their ice boxes at home.