Ev yer go' a loit bouee?

[Spardo]

Sorry, my interpretation of a long ago comedy song, but with a serious purpose.

An unexpected crisis today in the house. My wife wanted a fag but had nothing to light it with. She always has an array of various lighters which don't always work, but usually at least one of the at least 7 will produce the goods.

Not today, while she was clicking away I sought out the 2 boxes of so-called 'safety' matches that we have had lying around for ages. They stopped working properly years ago as evidenced by the holes in the striking pads.

In the end I took one of the matches and lit it by touching the electric bar of the oven, just as she managed to get one of the lighters to light.

So even if we are stocked up with candles in case of a power cut, we always are, they are not much use if we can't light them.

My question is, until I next go to the shop and find out for myself, do they still sell old fashioned 'non-safety' matches, or are these now banned in France?

[niemeyjt]

I guess Liz & Fixit can translate

[MAD87]

Are safety matches the ones with red tops or brown tops? I've only seen the brown-topped matches here, the heads fly off or the shafts break if you breathe on them.

[Spardo]

I did wonder J, if Liz would pick me up on my approximation of the accent. Thank you for letting me hear that again though. BTW my Dad was from Hampshire and he always pronounced the smoky thing on top of the house as 'chimbley'.

[mention]MAD87[/mention] The ones we have are red in a brown box, they won't strike on anything else either, so I assume they are safety ones.

[RobertArthur]

Look around and search for alumettes

[Crystal]

Your post made me laugh!...and brought back memories...

When I used to smoke and couldn't find a working lighter, I used to stick a strip of paper in the toaster until it caught fire!...in fact, I still use that trick occasionally if want to light the fire and can't find a working lighter.

I don't bother with matches...OH borrows them to light blowtorches and stuff and leaves them out in the shed...then either the mice eat all the heads off them, or they get damp and won't light!

I keep meaning to buy one of those big long clicky fire lighter things...thought it'd be less likely to go missing....or be eaten!

[niemeyjt]

Zippo lighters are good.

Talking of which, what's the difference between a hippo and a zippo? One's very heavy and the other's a little lighter.

[Char]

Zippo lighters are good.

Talking of which, what's the difference between a hippo and a zippo? One's very heavy and the other's a little lighter.

[Spardo]

[mention]Crystal[/mention] I never thought of the toaster, but it sounds far too dangerous for Fran, I try to keep her away from anything electrical. Same reason why we discarded the idea of flicking the light against the opened valve of the gas bottle outside.

I could imagine seeing her sitting blackened in the midst of the ruins of our house, but with a lit cigarette.

Been doing a bit of research, lots of ideas, making your own, but remembering the match girl's strike against their poisoning, perhaps not. A magnifying glass is another idea, but falls down on the need for sunlight.

Oh well, back to rubbing 2 Boy Scouts together.

[Crystal]

Oh well, back to rubbing 2 Boy Scouts together.

Are we allowed to say things like that nowadays?