When I was very young, I used to sit on top of a wooden step ladder in our living room to listen to an early afternoon radio programme called 'Listen with mother'. After that my mother used to listen to 'Women's Hour'. Regarding the first of which, Wikipedia reminds me of the catch phrase: 'Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin'. So in my case, I was sitting on a ladder. The one at the back in the snap above.
In due course, after the death of my mother, we acquired the ladder - and despite having acquired various other step ladders along the way, this one has survives and lives in the garage. The step ladder of choice for jobs outside.
However, at some point, probably the result of careless storage, it got some woodworm, in the steps and in the platform at the top. Not that serious and dosed with woodworm killer from time to time. Then a few weeks ago, I thought that it might be better to have a step ladder without woodworm holes. Hard to be sure that there are not some new holes and there is plenty of old & soft timber where we live now. A hazard.
So I ask Bing about wooden step ladders. First up is some wooden steps from ebay, located half way to Cornwall. Not quite what I was after and rather a long way away. But somehow I manage to buy them by accident, without knowing. Luckily the vendor was understanding and cancelled the order when ebay chased me for payment a few days later.
Second up was another wooden step ladder from etsy, another car boot site, otherwise e-commerce site, to be found at reference 1. This one was much more like it. In fact, they were identical to the one I had already. A bit paint spattered, but the very thing. Located in Cornwall. Sold.
In due course the ladder was delivered by the people at reference 2. With it getting to Epsom via a depot in Cannock, a place only known to me on account of the Cannock Chase Murders of the late 1960's. Regarding which, Wikipedia tells us that the perpetrator died in prison as recently at 2014, at the age of 84, having done 45 years. Given that I have read that ten years in prison is enough to do most minds in, one wonders what state he was in by then: had he ever expressed any remorse or sorrow for the dreadful things that he had done?
Having had a problem with his lock, our van driver did not reach us until shortly after 2000 and after dropping of the ladder, he set off back to Cannock. He seemed pretty cheerful given the long day he had had and the long journey he was facing. And his computer system had been pretty good about sending us progress reports.
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| Detail |
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| New woodworm |
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| Old woodworm |
The parcel seemed a little lighter than it should have been, and opening it up in the morning, we found that it was not the same as the ladder in the garage. Made in very much the same style, using the same kind of timber (unknown to me), almost certainly the same manufacturer, but a different, probably cheaper, model. Furthermore, the bottom step had been smashed at some point and rather crudely mended. Worse, the platform had woodworm. I was a little cross that the vendor had not mentioned this detail. Crosser still that I had bought a risky item like an old wooden ladder on the strength of a small picture on my laptop. Hopefully I have learned my lesson.
In any event, now the possessor of two bad ladders rather than the one good ladder intended.
All that said, the new ladder is not really a bad ladder, and being rather lighter than the original, might suit BH rather better than the old. Furthermore, the angles are slightly different, which might make it better for pruning bushes and hedges as it will stand in closer to the place of action. And both ladders now thoroughly dosed with Cuprinol woodworm killer. A clear fluid which did not have the dodgy aroma of woodworm killer of old: perhaps, like with gloss paint, the active ingredient has been banned by the men in Brussels. Regarding which see reference 3.
PS: I remember now that one of the childhood uses of this step ladder was getting into the loft, this being before the days of built in loft ladders. One had to carry the ladder up to the upstairs landing, climb to the top of it, slide the (quite heavy) cover off the opening to the loft and then pull oneself up into the loft above. Not sure that I could manage such a thing now.
Reference 1: https://www.etsy.com/.
Reference 2: https://www.xpertdelivery.co.uk/.
Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/08/degradable.html.
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