THE ZIP

We are renting a vicarage as our house has fallen down in the earthquake. In the vicarage there is (- no vicar- in case you were wondering!), but there is a ZIP. This is a time honoured method of boiling huge amounts of water for cups of tea, no doubt for parched parishoners. It is famous for having a spout at the top where if overly filled with water, the boiling water flies out at high pressure all over the room. It has a whistle which is activated by the steam which also makes everyone come running to turn it off. This particular one does not automatically turn itself off which makes life interesting. You can see where the water has dripped out from the top when it cools down but is still under pressure. It is an iconic New Zealand church hall type of equipment which you hardly see these days now that we have more "beautiful" ways of heating water.
It is never used normally of course but it was very useful during the earthquake where we had to boil our water for months. I think we were the most perfectly suited household for achieving such a task.