It's grey and raining (yea) and I was musing looking out the window at the
grass growing (yea) when I had a flash-back to the lawn mowing skills of a
previous neighbour.

He liked gadgets and is something of an inventor, he could be famous one
day, really. So I shall call him the Inventor. He built all sorts of
interesting things in the garage involving engines, welding, fibreglass and
oil. You could usually tell when he was creating by the smell. He wasn't
much into gardening but used to keep the place looking neat. The duplex
that we shared had concrete paths and driveways, and there were some garden
beds in the lawn. He didn't have a line trimmer so he used to do the edges
with shears and a cranky old wheel-trimmer. One day he had a stroke of
genius and this time his thoughts were well and truly outside the square. I
missed witnessing the feat by a couple of hours but saw the result and was
told all about it.

His wife was drawn out of the house, a rare event presaging matters of
importance, to stand on the verandah to admire his handiwork. He didn't
have to say "honey look what I've done" as she could smell it as the house
filled with smoke. He had gone around the all edges with a watering can of
petrol and then lit it.

He had remembered to get rid of the watering can so it was mainly the edges
of the grass and concrete that burned in a flash however some garden beds
were edged more than usual. Here and there singed rose bushes drooped.
After things cooled and the smog dissipated each section of garden was
outlined in black. Have you ever seen one of those giant human outline
figures cut into hillsides in some parts of the world? This was much like
that but with excessive eye shadow.

The Inventor had a spare car which we once borrowed when ours was in for
extended service. We had been driving it for a day or two when we went to
put petrol into it and found that it had no petrol cap but a ball of rag
stuffed into the filling pipe. We had been driving a Molotov cocktail
around. When we returned it he explained that this was due to the
unavailability of petrol caps for the model which also explained why the car
wasn't registered. Not having noticed that it wasn't registered I nodded
thoughtfully as I thanked him for his generosity.

On the day of the great lawn edging we came home to find the Molotov
cocktail parked in the driveway. I have since wondered if it was there at
ignition time or if it had been removed and returned. I never asked as his
wife assured us that the experiment would not be repeated.

David

Why is it inventors always get a bad rap!
Even Alfred Nobel was ostracized.
As was Nicola Tesla

Thomas Midgley was an American chemist who invented both leaded petrol and
CFCs. Though lauded during his time, he has come to be known as having "had
more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth
history" and "the one human responsible for more deaths than any other in
history" due to his inventions. He eventually contracted Polio and lead
poisoning and was left disabled in his bed. This caused him to create an
elaborate system of pulleys and ropes in order to lift himself from bed.He
died at the age of 55 after being strangled by one of his pulleys and is
notable for the fact that both his inventions, leaded petrol and his pulley
operated bed, contributed to his death.

Otto Lilienthal was a pioneer of human aviation who became known as the
Glider King. He was the first person to make repeated successful gliding
flights. Newspapers and magazines in many countries published photographs of
Lilienthal gliding, favorably influencing public and scientific opinion
about the possibility of flying machines becoming practical reality after
ages of idle fantasy and unscientific tinkering. On a flight on the 9th
August 1896, Lilienthal fell 17 meters, breaking his spine.He died the next
day.
His final words were, "Small sacrifices must be made!"

It would seem your neighbor is setting up for one final great invention....



"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
It's grey and raining (yea) and I was musing looking out the window at the
grass growing (yea) when I had a flash-back to the lawn mowing skills of a
previous neighbour.

He liked gadgets and is something of an inventor, he could be famous one
day, really. So I shall call him the Inventor. He built all sorts of
interesting things in the garage involving engines, welding, fibreglass
and oil. You could usually tell when he was creating by the smell. He
wasn't much into gardening but used to keep the place looking neat. The
duplex that we shared had concrete paths and driveways, and there were
some garden beds in the lawn. He didn't have a line trimmer so he used to
do the edges with shears and a cranky old wheel-trimmer. One day he had a
stroke of genius and this time his thoughts were well and truly outside
the square. I missed witnessing the feat by a couple of hours but saw the
result and was told all about it.

His wife was drawn out of the house, a rare event presaging matters of
importance, to stand on the verandah to admire his handiwork. He didn't
have to say "honey look what I've done" as she could smell it as the house
filled with smoke. He had gone around the all edges with a watering can
of petrol and then lit it.

He had remembered to get rid of the watering can so it was mainly the
edges of the grass and concrete that burned in a flash however some garden
beds were edged more than usual. Here and there singed rose bushes
drooped. After things cooled and the smog dissipated each section of
garden was outlined in black. Have you ever seen one of those giant human
outline figures cut into hillsides in some parts of the world? This was
much like that but with excessive eye shadow.

The Inventor had a spare car which we once borrowed when ours was in for
extended service. We had been driving it for a day or two when we went to
put petrol into it and found that it had no petrol cap but a ball of rag
stuffed into the filling pipe. We had been driving a Molotov cocktail
around. When we returned it he explained that this was due to the
unavailability of petrol caps for the model which also explained why the
car wasn't registered. Not having noticed that it wasn't registered I
nodded thoughtfully as I thanked him for his generosity.

On the day of the great lawn edging we came home to find the Molotov
cocktail parked in the driveway. I have since wondered if it was there at
ignition time or if it had been removed and returned. I never asked as
his wife assured us that the experiment would not be repeated.

David

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
It's grey and raining (yea) and I was musing looking out the window at the
grass growing (yea) when I had a flash-back to the lawn mowing skills of a
previous neighbour.

He liked gadgets and is something of an inventor, he could be famous one
day, really. So I shall call him the Inventor. He built all sorts of
interesting things in the garage involving engines, welding, fibreglass
and oil. You could usually tell when he was creating by the smell. He
wasn't much into gardening but used to keep the place looking neat. The
duplex that we shared had concrete paths and driveways, and there were
some garden beds in the lawn. He didn't have a line trimmer so he used to
do the edges with shears and a cranky old wheel-trimmer. One day he had a
stroke of genius and this time his thoughts were well and truly outside
the square. I missed witnessing the feat by a couple of hours but saw the
result and was told all about it.

His wife was drawn out of the house, a rare event presaging matters of
importance, to stand on the verandah to admire his handiwork. He didn't
have to say "honey look what I've done" as she could smell it as the house
filled with smoke. He had gone around the all edges with a watering can
of petrol and then lit it.

He had remembered to get rid of the watering can so it was mainly the
edges of the grass and concrete that burned in a flash however some garden
beds were edged more than usual. Here and there singed rose bushes
drooped. After things cooled and the smog dissipated each section of
garden was outlined in black. Have you ever seen one of those giant human
outline figures cut into hillsides in some parts of the world? This was
much like that but with excessive eye shadow.

The Inventor had a spare car which we once borrowed when ours was in for
extended service. We had been driving it for a day or two when we went to
put petrol into it and found that it had no petrol cap but a ball of rag
stuffed into the filling pipe. We had been driving a Molotov cocktail
around. When we returned it he explained that this was due to the
unavailability of petrol caps for the model which also explained why the
car wasn't registered. Not having noticed that it wasn't registered I
nodded thoughtfully as I thanked him for his generosity.

On the day of the great lawn edging we came home to find the Molotov
cocktail parked in the driveway. I have since wondered if it was there at
ignition time or if it had been removed and returned. I never asked as
his wife assured us that the experiment would not be repeated.

i like your stories!

but i must be sure not to move into your neighbourhood or i'll end up
famous.
kylie

0tterbot wrote:

i like your stories!


I have more but who knows when they will come to mind.

but i must be sure not to move into your neighbourhood or i'll end up
famous.
kylie

Truth is stranger than fiction and often more fun.

David