Crackling

We’ve had some cold nights in the past few weeks. Now it is getting (fractionally) warmer I ventured out into the greenhouse today before going to a church seminar this afternoon.

This year I did not heat the greenhouse over winter. I brought the main sensitive plant into the house ( the lemon tree bushes; the bougainvillea etc) but I forgot about the bottles with dyed water in them. They had originally brightened up a windowsill in the utility room but in the past year or so had stood on the shelves in the greenhouse.

I wondered why some trays were damp and discovered the empty bottles where the water had frozen and the glass had cracked, but not shattered.

It reminded me of a former boss who (when abroad on diplomatic service) used to freeze champagne bottles. At least three out of four cracked cleanly and he used the frozen champagne as a desert, slicing off what was in effect a sorbet. The fourth would shatter completely so he used to freeze them all in plastic boxes.

I have never tried this and do not intend to do so!

More glass recycling this week (safely packaged).