Such was the case yesterday. How many of you shop at Thorns Hardware Emporium in Norwich? It's one of the most haphazard and wonderfully disorganised shops imaginable but somewhere you can find practically anything.
Well there's a similar shop in Sheringham and I can't for the life of me think what it's called. But it is on the left as you walk down the High Street.
Basically its an Aladdin's Cave of hardware and DIY stuff and we went in search of that remarkable commodity WD40. We had a stiff key box that took some budging and some opening until Cousin Belinda exerted a certain degree of violence on it.
Exactly what is WD40? Well for me it's a substance that you spray on anything and it loosens what needs to be loosened, cleans what needs to be cleaned and does virtually everything else like telling you what's going to win the 3.15 at Lingfield and whether Norwich City are going to get promoted (our can said no on that one).
I bet you've used WD40 but have you ever wondered where it comes from and would it surprise you to know that it's American? I bet it wouldn't surprise you to know that the formula is a closely guarded secret. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about WD 40.
WD-40 is an American brand and the trademark of the WD40 Company based in San Diego, California. The formula for WD-40 was invented in 1953. WD-40 became available as a commercial product in 1961. It acts as a lubricant, rust preventive, penetrant and moisture displacer. There are specialised products that perform better than WD-40 in each of these uses, but WD-40's flexibility has given it fame as a jack of all trade. WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th formula.
So now you know. But that's not my point of writing about WD40. My other threequarters is sharp when it comes to saving the pennies and she soon picked up on the fact that the can I bought wasn't good value for money.
My 100 ml can cost £3.32 whereas an 80 ml can cost £1.99. The confusion came from the fact that both cans were the same size. Ironically I picked up an 80 ml and then changed it for another can which seemed to have more in it. It did of course, being a 100 ml. But I was charged £3.32 for the 100 ml can which means the extra 20 ml cost £1.33. In layman's terms the 100 ml can cost 3.32p per ml whereas the 80 ml can only cost 2.5p per ml. The additional 20 ml was 6.6p per ml. Larger quantities usually come cheaper but not in this case.
Then we went to Tescos where they had lots of special offers. Valentine's dinner for two for only £87. Actually it was £12 which wasn't bad for a bottle of Prosecco, main course and a dessert. There were plenty of other offers as well but the whole thing was very confusing. You couldn't work out which parts of a display were included in the special mix and match offer and which weren't. We ended up getting two cheeses and a pack of ham from the mix and match section, only to find when we got to the checkout that one cheese was part of the offer, but the second piece wasn't.
This confusion seems to happen quite a lot in supermarkets. I just wonder if it's deliberate.
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I have just finished my fourth Agatha Christie novel in my attempt to read them all. Murder on the Orient Express and The Murder at the Vicarage now lie alongside the short story collection Hounds of Death and Endless Night as books finished. Endless Night is my favourite so far but there's a long long way to go.
Quick literary tip - Don't put a library book in with a wet towel as I did last week. It resulted in a water damaged book and I now have to buy a replacement copy.
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Yesterday afternoon I started out on a walk with the best intentions of taking some photographs in the sunshine, only to find that the settings on the cameras I use have been changed and seem to have a mind of their own. Result is that the photos were hugely disappointing. It does mean I will have to visit North Norfolk again. I have salvaged a few in the hazy sunshine and hope you enjoy one or two of them.