It gives a lovely light

Awoke to a snow storm and then the power went off.... contingency planning required!

I assembled the requisites: torches, matches, candles and the old paraffin (kerosene) lamps that I've had since my childhood. I grew up with them: we had no electricity during my early years in rural Wales. Filling the lamps was a daily chore, trimming the wicks and cleaning the glass chimneys a weekly routine. They were always treated with great care (my mother would boast of how she once fell down stairs holding a lamp and reached the bottom with it still upright in her hand.) Now they are only brought into use for emergencies.

In fact the snow soon melted as it almost always does here on the coastal margin (although there's plenty of it a mile or two inland); the lights came back on. All the same I lit the lamps to check they were in working order and to remind my son how they operate. The one on the left has a simple glass reservoir and probably dates from the 20s or 30s. The one in the middle is older and posher with a fancy light diffuser. Both of them are simple double burners with two strips of wick that burn in tandem giving a soft yellow glow. The lamp on the right has an incandescent mantle over the wick and produces a more powerful light. For me these lamps are both practical and nostalgic reminders of my early childhood, their radiance, warmth and smell evoking a strong sensual memory.

Title is from Edna St. Vincent Millay's best known poem

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends-
It gives a lovely light.