Brownwood saga (continued)

In the course of a routine inspection, BH discovered what looked like fresh wood worm holes in the seat of one of our chairs, holes which we thought ought to be treated.

My recollection was that there was at least one small tin of wood worm killing fluid in the garage, the same sort of small tin as can contain 3-in-1 oil, maybe 50ml. A small tin which search failed to turn up.

So in the course of my morning walk, I called in three shops. In Wilko, I could find neither wood worm killer nor assistant to tell me where it was, although I did find the wood care shelf full of varnish and polish, so maybe they don't do it. In Robert Dyas, I found both, but they could only offer a litre, for £15 or so, which was far more than I wanted. Ditto Wilkes. So the plan was to try Amazon when I got home.

But when I got home and explained what I was up to, BH found a spray can of the stuff (in the garage, as it happens), which I suppose I had not found because that was not what I had been looking for. Spray which will be applied in due course.

And just to complete the saga, I did check on Amazon to find that the smallest quantity of wood worm killer than I could buy was 250ml, still rather more than I wanted, but better than a litre. Rather less than the tenner the chair might cost me in a junk shop on the Isle of Wight, where they still have such places.

All of which led to thoughts about waste, about how I am made to buy far more wood worm killer than I want. Perhaps part of the answer is that very few people have brown wood these days and so have little need for the small quantities of wood worm killer that one needs in that connection. They want the larger quantities needed to deal with sheds or roofs or floors. Perhaps another part is that all the stock-small-amounts-of-everything sort of hardware stores which would have sold me a 50ml tin have been killed off by the big stores and that small quantities of obscure items can be better supplied from a central store on the Internet than from big stores scattered over the country. So not just waste; there is a reason for it.