The other half came back from Notso Bigtown today with our week’s shopping, some ‘eco logs’*, two doughnuts and my keys. When I asked Twitter where my keys were, Twitter replied: where you left them and Twitter was absolutely right. As the other half walked into the builders’ merchant where we’d bought the eco logs last week the woman behind the counter produced my keys which had been sitting there waiting for us to return. Hurrah. Now, does anyone know where my phone is?
* actually a bit more like ‘eco pellets’ but they’re a by-product from a local joiners so cheaper than the traditional bigger heat logs and, crucially, something that you can just go into a shop and buy. Unlike seasoned hardwood which, it seems, you either have to have been born here and your father and grandfather before you, or know some magic word, or possibly both, before anyone will actually sell it to you. Apart from the £6 bags from the garage which are almost as ruinous as oil…
This is my fourteenth winter in this forest-covered small corner of France, and it took me more than ten years to be able to buy “good” hardwood at a normal price… It helps when the guy who sells you the wood is also one of the firemen who came over when you found your house flooded upon returning from Christmas vacation… Hopefully I will be considered as belonging here before I move. But I love living here anyway.
Ah, only ten years? There’s hope for us yet then!
Aha! You’ve gone for the eco-logs. Good call
Now, if you had an iPhone you’d be able to ask it where it was.
I’m not convinced they’re the same eco logs. They’re really tiny, for a start, and they’re a bit of a pain in the neck. But they’re better than no fire…
Try local sawmills – they often have copious quantities of offcuts that they otherwise can’t get rid of quick enough… I’m sure OH would enjoy sniffing out said sawmills.
Check out the fun they’re having in Colorado — and the rest of the US — looks like you left just in time.
http://grundlepod.blogspot.com/2011/01/colder-than-wedge.html
Do you have enough land around your house that you could plant a goodly stand of fast growing trees that you could pollard each fall to “grow your own?” (They would also provide a windbreak for the house.) A long term investment, I grant you, but with wood prices what they are, it might really pay off in the long run.
Hmm, ours are about 3 inches in diameter and are extruded so the logs are anything up to 10″ long, although a lot are shorter than that. Come in a clear bag with a yellow panel that frames a picture of flames with the words “ECO Logs” emblazened on it. http://www.fuel-sell.co.uk apparently.
gosh, isnt Twitter clever? And the joys of living in the country! I have witnessed in rural Wales, men at the bar empty their keys and wallets onto the counter, then trundle off to the gents! And in the next village, seen the publican open up her pub, by fishing the keys out of a flower pot. (You mustn’t think I spend all my time in pubs..)
Paperboy – funny you should say that, we were just driving past a local sawmill yesterday, checking out their piles of wood. We’ve reached the stage of eyeing up pretty much anything that’s flammable
WOL – I’d love a short-rotation coppice, but it’s not practical in rented accomodation. When my smallholding comes… *sigh*
Dom – they’re about that diameter but only about an inch long. That might be why they’re half the price of the ones on that website…
emma – nothing wrong with that.
The scout campsite I used to volunteer at made a relationship with a local firm that made garden sheds. We got the offcuts for the campfires, until we realised they were all fireproofed..
oops. I take it the fireproofing worked then? Normally shed wood goes up like a rocket