Gadgets

We don't have many, apart from the modern day 'essentials' - washing machine, TV, computer, soon to be totally redundant DVD player, et al.
The kitchen is almost without any gadgetry apart from the fridge, cooker, a 1970s yogurt maker and a sturdy blender. The boy has been nagging for a juicer but I'm resisting this as the blender does essentially the same job and we have little work surface.
However . . . I did recently succumb to A SODASTREAM. Yes, modern, plastic and quite large . . .
BUT. There are reasons. I love fizzy water but virtually never buy it due to the landfill element of the purchase; cold fizzy water is a great alternative to beer or wine and, well that's it really, but it's taken me about six years of indecision before taking the plunge and extracting my card in Darty - a huge French 'shed' full of domestic life-enhancements.
I did look at the 'retro' styled ones which would fit more with our slightly 50s kitchen but apart from the fact they were hideously expensive they were big and blobby with even more plastic than the basic versions. So I went for a mid-priced one, still lots of plastic but in a fairly attractive sort of badger 'colourway'.
So, is it remotely ecologic? Now I have discovered you can get the gas canister refilled at our local DIY 'shed', yes, I think it probably is, compared to buying bottled water. Of course the better option would be either move next to the source at Pellegrino (if they let you nick the water yourself) or just drink flat water, and be glad of it!
If I ever had the wonderful opportunity to appear on Desert Island Discs (one has to have daft dreams) I might well consider the Sodastream as my item of luxury. A continual supply of bubbly water to refresh myself while exploring, reading and generally lying about . . . if the deal included ice and lemon of course.

                                                      

Our black and white 'special edition' sodastream placed next to the 1970s yogurt maker. Hope they get on OK.

Names

When I did A level geography, the subject I found particularly fascinating was the development of town/village names from the population of people that had gathered there and why they had - rivers, good grazing, Ikea, and so on, and how personal names had developed from the association with place/trade, etc.
Unfortunately, a large part of the rest of the course zoomed over my head (stream sections and other mathematical stuff) and I did subsequently only just scape through with an E. but, usefully, I was left with afore-mentioned curiosity into place/people's names, and an urge to visit, and ponder on, how and why towns appeared where they did.
This morning I found a very useful site which listed just about every surname one could imagine, (I was re-naming someone in my current book). A lot of names, as I imagined, were associated with hollows/copse/woods/bridges/hills - person who lived in or near one.
 I liked this one:
Acker - person who lived near a field. Surely it would have difficult not to live near a field in 1783 or whenever. Why wasn't everyone called Acker, except those who lived perhaps near water - Attwater, or Attaway - someone who lived close to the road.
My favourite name must have been, Bagley: someone who lived in a field, populated by badgers (old English - bagga 'bag-shaped animal') combined with leah (woodland clearing).
I have lost touch with my friend from school called Gill Bagley. I wonder if she was aware that her forebears lived with bag-shaped animals in a clearing.

                                       
                                                   
                                                                    A bag-shaped animal


A few other whizzo examples:

Barrett: derived from middle English, meaning dispute, originally given to a quarrelsome person.

Bush: given to a person who lived in or next to bushes.

Courtney: A person with a short nose (from old French - court nes)

Deadman - grave digger (obviously)

Ely - person coming from Ely in Eastern England, meaning 'eel district'

Garnett - occupational name given to person who made hinges, or sold pomegranates. Seeds like garnets, I suppose - rather beautiful.

Hardy (yey - me) from old French meaning, bold, daring - should have seen me on the garage roof this morning unblocking the gutters!)

Hopper - referred to someone who hopped . . . mmm?

Kellog: from the middle ages - butcher - 'killer of hogs' not squasher of corn into crispy flakes, then.

Mutton: shepherd, or someone who in some way resembled a sheep.