I don’t think that I can say that I learn something new every day, although that might not be strictly true as I probably learn a new word on a daily basis.  It’s part of playing Scrabble and being a voracious reader.  However, I did learn quite a few new useful things this summer and I thought that they were sufficiently interesting  to share with you.  So here they are in no particular order:

Red wine stains

I inadvertently knocked an entire glass of red wine off the coffee table onto the carpet (cream, of course).  I’ll let you imagine the expletives that followed, but any sergeant major would be proud of me, I promise!  So having done all of the normal things to try and reverse the damage: blotting with paper towel (kitchen paper if you’re not an American speaker), spraying with stain remover, blotting some more we were left with a rather large stain on the carpet.  Yes, I know that you can use white wine, but we never have any in the house.  Yes, I know about salt (but I’d forgotten that trick).  Anyhow, lots of research on the good old Internet and found several sites & You Tube videos that said that a mixture of white vinegar & water plus a steam iron would do the trick.  Was I ever cynical, or what?  Anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained and, to be honest, I’d nothing to lose.  Well, scrape me off the floor.  It did.  So for those of you who need to know, here’s what you do:-

1. Mix plain white vinegar and water in equal volumes and put into an clean spray bottle.
2. Get a clean white rag (tea towel works well) and dampen it.
3. Turn your steam iron onto it’s highest setting.
4. Spray the stained area well with the vinegar/water mix.
5. Put the damp tea towel over the spot and then put your hot iron on the top.  Press firmly for about 25-30 seconds, but no longer.
6. Repeat as necessary.

It’s not perfect, and sorry, I don’t have handy before-and-after pictures to demonstrate the efficacy of this treatment.  All I can do is challenge you to come and see for yourself.  If you didn’t know that it had happened you wouldn’t see it.

Aging wrought iron

Marc from La Forge de Petit Bersac came to quote for some stair rails for the new master suite.  We gave him the “nickel tour” so that he could appreciate what sort of look we were after.  He liked the doors that we’d installed over the summer and appreciated the old hardware that we’d uncovered and refurbished and offered the following hint:  to age new metal so that it looks old wrap it well in several sheets of wet newspaper and bung it in the fire (or on a BBQ at a pinch) for about 20 minutes.  Leave to cool before unwrapping.  I’m dying to try that one out.  He also said that peeing on it accelerates the process.  I think I’ll give that bit a miss!

Conkers – more attributes

While measuring up for the railings Marc came across the conkers that we leave in the corners of each room and I explained why they’re there.  In turn, Marc told me that the reason that the beams used in the construction of cathedrals were made of chestnut is that spiders don’t like walking on chestnut.  That’s why you don’t see huge swags of cobwebs festooning the rafters.  How clever.

And while waiting for the train to Bordeaux on the day that we left to return to the Islands we had a quiet beer at l’Hotel de la Gare where I found this on the bar:

Goodness only knows if it works or not, but it costs nothing to find out, does it?

Pepper for bleeding & bleach for burns

We treated ourselves to a break from cleaning on our last Sunday at Les Terraces (and the fact that the fridge was empty!!) and headed down to La Table Rouge for a spot of lunch.  It was a gorgeous day, with an autumnal nip to the air.  Graham managed to cut himself somehow and while we were cleaning up the cut Kate volunteered the gem that sprinkling ground pepper on a cut is great for stopping the bleeding.  She keeps a special pot in the kitchen for poking cut fingers into!  She also told me that putting bleach on a burn stops it blistering.  A legacy from a life lived in the tropics is fragile skin, so I’ve popped a small pot of pepper into my handbag.  I know that it works – neither one of us has cut ourselves since I did so!