The scale of the problem
Happy first of the month to you, kalo mina, in Greek. It’s been a bit of a fun-house/mad-house weekend up here. It started on Friday when we went to Yialos to buy a few essentials we have lived without for several years. Though it about time we had some decent weighing scales in the kitchen, a mixing bowl, a hand-held mixer and other things now considered basics. We found everything we wanted, brought them home and eagerly unpacked to set about using the scales and whisk to prepare for a dinner on Saturday. Now then, it’s been a while since I’ve used an electric/digital weighing scale. We used to have a mechanical one, and it was a simple ‘put the thing in the bowl, watch the scale move’ event and hardly taxing. Apparently, things have changed somewhat since 1978, and the simple machine now comes with full instructions, as you will see…
The instruction booklet is neatly set out with six main headings, To replace battery, To operate scale, To convert weight unit etc. It even has an alarm on it, presumably to remind you to stop tipping flour into the bowl after half an hour, I don’t know, but another of the instructions concerns the ‘Zero’ function. That, to me, sounds like the British government (which is very alarming, let’s face it) which also seems to suffer a zero function as in, does absolutely zero for its citizens living in the EU, but let’s not get into that mess of cabbage so early in the week. Here, after this next random shot, are the instructions for the “Zero or Tare Function.”
Condition 1: “ZERO” function. When total sum of all loads on scale ≤ 4% of scale’s max.weight capactity. (4%=80g when capacity is 2kg; 200g when capacity is 5kg) LCD will show “—-” or “0g” each time Z/T is pressed. “—-” means not stable, please wait a moment. “0g” and meanwhile an icon “ZERO” on lower left corner of LCD mean “ZERO” function is active. Max. capacity remains unchanged.
I kid you not. I was amused to read that “Zero means zero” and, at the end of it all, everything remains unchanged. (Ring any bells?) The scales are strong and stable, unlike you know what, so that’s a good thing, and it’s also a good job I remembered what that symbol (≤) meant although I had to go back 40 odd years to my CSE grade 2 maths to recall it. I have no idea what I am going to do with my Zero function, but I can always play with the new electric whisk.
That glorious machine helped Neil make a very tasty Bakewell tart, and it should no longer take me three days of hand whisking to make a chocolate mousse. That’s despite its instructions, which are available to me on a wall-planner sized, fold-out instructions sheet that’s mainly in Arabic but also in German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, KK and FA (I’m not sure what languages they are). There’s also an English version, phew, but I did wonder what will happen after April 12th, May the whatever-date or 2020 onwards. Will such instructions on European bought devices no longer be printed in English? That’d be fun. Luckily, I have a photo of the Rosetta Stone, so I have a translation guide on hand. For my part, I just stick the thing in the mixture and press the button. Can’t be ≤ the difficulty of using the scales, can it?
Anyway, my early Sunday morning ramble (as that’s when I am putting this together) followed the baking-supplies shopping spree, an evening with godson #1, a morning in the kitchen and a dinner with friends where the tart (Bakewell) was well received, and where my chicken curry didn’t do too badly either. Now, it’s on with the week ahead and… yay! No plans, dates, dinners or anything strenuous so far arranged. It’s on with the writing, and now that the weather is better, back to the regular walking.
