Gather Round Children

When your young and idealistic parents made aliah [immigrated] in 1977,the Jewish Agency gave us a bed-frame, matress and quilt,a knife and spoon [but no bourgeois fork],a plastic bowl,a light-bulb [if I remember correctly] and this lethal parafin stove,made in Communist Rumania with instructions in French,obviously part of some doubtful entente, which has remained unlit on a dusty shelf for the last 32 years. In honour of the holiday [Chanukah,the Festival of Light] and because I'm finally clearing out the store-room,I gave it a wipe,filled it up,stood well back and lit it. It does crank out the heat,but also smells a lot, apart from its inherent structural instability [like its country of origin],so I think I shall render it unfit for use [with my big hammer] and consign it to the bin.