The Lamp Lighter

The Inns of Court - Temple Church and -THE LAMP LIGHTER!
We had a fascinating day on our "Legal London" tour, visiting amongst other things, Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, the Royal Courts of Justice, the Old Bailey, the Church of St Clement Danes on The Strand, and more things than you could shake a stick at.
We were fortunate enough to catch up with this British Gas Lamplighter in the area of the Inner and Middle Temple right next to the Temple Church. From the top of his ladder he gave us an impromptu mini-guided tour around his gas lamp. The gas lamps are serviced about every 10 days, and this particular one has to be wound up, as there is a mechanical device in it rather like a domestic timer, that whirrs round, or something techy like that, and at the appropriate time the gas valve is opened, the pilot light ignites the gas, and hey presto, there is light.
The day was so interesting, starting with the guy at the service station at 9:30 am, wearing an orange boiler suit, a Silence of the Lambs face mask, and an orange cone on his head. Funnily enough he was on his stag night/day.
Our Blue Badge Guide was the most knowledgeable and charismatic lady we could have wished for, and didn't stop talking for about 7 hours (that made a change from us talking then). She told us all sorts of facts such as the origin of the phrases "red tape" (the pink ribbon that gets wrapped around the documents that are being passed from solicitor to barrister) and "big wig" (the large wig that the "top" judges wear for ceremonial purposes. Have a look at Technophobe's blip as I'm sure she will tell you other snippets about our day.
The day passed very quickly and before we knew it we were on the coach back to the countryside. And GUESS WHAT YOU COCKNEYS? We have ELECTRIC LIGHTS here. We may be country mice, but we know how to live!