Ignition

'Waxlings' is the brand name of firelighters made from wood wool and candle wax. We were introduced to them on Mull by blipper Treshnish. I must admit that, having lit fires for years with scrunched and rolled newspapers, just popping in a Waxling seems a very easy job

I spotted some in the CoOp doorway here just before Xmas and made an impulse buy - I hope the person in charge of store layout, who obviously saw me coming, got their Xmas bonus. The bag ran out a week or so ago and I reverted to "the old ways" with slightly drooped shoulders. Mrs M took pity and bought some more

But she also came home with a glint in her eye. She has a large stock of beeswax, some of it of rather dubious quality for candle-making. In the shed is a bag of dry shavings from some Welsh larch, which I collected from the aftermath of the shed construction by our son. "This will come in for something one day", I thought. We recently bought a new, more manageable, bain-marie wax melter. The pieces were in place; a dream was born!

On the first attempt, she took my advice; the result was too much wax with too little wood. Second time around, she followed her instincts, and the result is some highly functional things-will-that-not-be-called-waxlings, each one in its own little nest of cut-up egg box, which keeps them from melting through the grate before they have done their job. Here is the proof of the pudding

When the fully-automated, AI-controlled, sustainably-powered production line is switched on, you'll all be invited. Now, back to that brand name...