Selamat Datang to all Peglomaniacs

One crisp autumnal day, DB & I left England and flew into the heat and dust of Cairo. From our tenth floor bedroom in the hotel, the view was of rooftops covered in a thick layer of dirt and detritus (bricks, timber, pallets etc.). It was as dry as if it hadn't rained for the last thousand years and the number of satellite dishes on each roof had to be seen to be believed. Below us was what appeared to be a bombsite covered in rubbish, guarded 24 hours a day by a guy at the entrance ... every building of any note was guarded.

We took a taxi to a market and found a few new pegs .. at least half of them had been made in China. It was hot and dusty and hard work getting through the overcrowded market so we climbed into another taxi and asked the driver to take us our next destination, the Egypt Museum, the 2nd biggest tourist attraction in Cairo. Recognising us as tourists ... I wonder how? ... he initially agreed a price of 5 Egyptian pounds and then deliberately went the wrong way and pretended to be lost. Then he demanded 20 Egyptian pounds to get us where we had asked. We had such an argument that DB refused to travel any further with him at all. She got out whilst I got him down to 7 pounds. A reluctant DB .... trusty map in hand ... returned to the taxi. The Egypt museum is an absolute must for all travellers ... no pegs though!!

The next day, whilst DB went off to explore pyramids, I struggled through more heat, dust, various back alleys and shops looking for more pegs. Cairo is not a rich picking ground for avid peg collectors but I did manage a few precious finds.

Following an overnight stop in Dubai we flew on to the bustling city of New Delhi. As in all the big cities of India, the traffic and state of the roads is total mayhem. We set off on foot to find the Sadar Bazaar .... what a mistake ....... the heat was oppressive and trying to walk along potholed roads (what pavements?) heaving with bikes, tuk tuks, ox carts, sacred cows and all forms of humanity is amazing. After asking loads of people where I could buy pegs we were directed to a narrow alley which appeared to have millions of people trying to get out of and an equal number trying to get in. We fought, and I truly mean fought, our way up this alley to the peg and hanger wholesaler. Once inside his tiny cupboard of a shop, I attempted to explain that I wanted different pegs to the ones I was carrying. In the end we got 12 packets and a further two from another stall ..... oh life is good!

We couldn't face the walk back so we hailed a sort of pram on the back of a bike and for a mere 20 rupees a tiny little Indian man peddled his heart out to get us back over the ruts and undulations in the road to our hotel. DB was feeling quite humble and sorry for him until she glanced back to see the cycle rickshaw behind carrying not two but FIVE people. Boy, these guys are fit.

We had a couple of days in New Delhi where our tour operator lived in his 6 foot square office and we could never manage to call on him when he wasn't asleep under his desk. DB still receives e-mails & Dewali cards from Ramji, a fascinating character who went out of his way to ensure we found the best places for pegs and DB had a memorable trip to the Taj Mahal ... I don't understand it myself, but can you believe she wants to see a little more than just pegs?

Our next stop was in Kuala Lumpur, where we stayed at a hotel smack bang in the middle of Chinatown. DB had booked this hotel using the Internet and she had forgotten to ask if the room had a window. So, we were staying in this room with no windows and it was dark, very dark. This meant that when we went to bed early and woke up at 1 a.m. we watched TV for a bit then went back to sleep. When we awoke it was 12.30 -- we couldn't work out if my watch and gone backwards or we had had a very long sleep. At any rate we were quite refreshed and once we discovered it was daylight, we were ready to hit all the street markets.

When we emerged from the foyer of our hotel we found that a huge Market had been errected whilst we slept ... it was like walking out into a dreamscape. One minute cool and quiet and uncrowded and then through a door to a seething mass of stalls and sprukers in the heat of the day. The market was awash with knock-offs of designer goods and the all the latest DVDs and all the stallholders yelling out their best buys. "You want Find Nemo?" was a common call. That film had only just been released in the cinema, surely the DVD shouldn't yet be available??

We loved Kuala Lumpur and one of the best aquisitions, pegwise, was an unusual animal shaped one found on the washing line of the hotel roof when DB had gone out to see if it was day or night! Kuala Lumpur is a wonderful place for shopping ... we didn't just buy pegs, but DB bought a pair of shoes that don't fit because "They are so pretty and they'll have to fit someone" ! Beware, my friends, KL people are so much smaller than westerners and the clothes and shoes just DO NOT FIT anyone we know .... so the pretty green embroidered shoes are still in the cupboard under our stairs awaiting a tiny pair of cinderella feet!

One thing we did buy was a dark green doormat with the greeting "SELAMAT DATANG" embossed in large golden letters. We sincerely hope that means "Welcome" or we may be offending our visitors on a regular basis!!

All Hail for the Hurricane

Today's illustration is of two "Hurricane Grip" pegs which are manufactured by Technical Moulded Systems located in Staffordshire, U.K. They are designed to hold your washing on the line through a hurricane.

I can't say I ever hang out my washing when a hurricane is due, but I understand that upwards of 66 million of these are made each year. Joking aside, it is an excellent design. As you can see, it is a one piece moulded peg which has solved the rusting spring problem of conventional wooden pegs.

Rust isn't the only problem with the conventional pegs. Would you believe that at least 300 residents of the UK are hospitalised each and every year due to being hit by flying pegs and/or peg-springs. I would imagine that rotary lawn mowers could take some of the blame for this, so next time you are out mowing your lawn (a luxury in drought stricken Australia) perhaps you should check for fallen pegs before you start. Who knows what speed they travel at when picked up and flung in all directions by the mower - maybe as fast as the wind in a hurricane!

Rushin' to the Market ....

Here in Melbourne in the leafy suburb of Cheltenham, every Sunday, there is a "Trash and Treasure" market held in the undercover car park of the shopping centre. The market is run by the local Lions Club and although quite small, DB & I often walk along to see what treasures are there on offer. A few years ago, we wandered down and, would you believe it, there on a stall full of what looked like trash, and marked at only $3 was a basket full of ( you've guessed it) pegs. Well, as it happened, that particular day was 30th March 2003 .... or, if you notice numbers like that ..... 30-3-03 ..... quite obviously, a most auspicious day!

After haggling over the price ... well it is a market and we are expected to .. I bought the basket. When I returned home I tipped out my haul .... there was a total of 180 pegs in that basket and and of the 40 different types, 24 of them were completely new to me. What a success.

Later, we had friends round for dinner and as I showed off my latest acquisition, one of them said ... "Oh look - these are Russian". "How do you know that? " I asked. "Well, they have the price moulded into them to prevent profiteering". Well, I'll be buttered both sides, what will they think of next !!!

I would imagine most of the older pegs in the basket were made in the early 1960s and, no doubt, migrated to Australia with their Russian owner. I often wonder if the owner had died and a house clearing mob had come in to dispose of her possessions. What stories could those pegs tell? Would they, in their wildest dreams, ever have imagined being trophies on my hall wall?

How to Confuse a Kiwi

Well what did we find in New Zealand? Not another peg I hear you say!
Yes you're right, but it was an unusual one shaped like a J and they are sold in bags of 100 for next to nothing. After the last posting, we needed a cheap one!


Now then, I ask you, how does it work? Customers in their thousands are asking themselves the same question and consequently not buying them. When used correctly, these pegs can hold a pair of jeans securely on the line in a 100 mile an hour gale and aren't supposed to mark the clothes either.

The New Zealand peg currently on sale is the blue one in the photograph. It was designed in Australia, patented and made in New Zealand. What a revolutionary design I hear you say. Oh but wait - there's more - look at the red one.

The red peg was made in America in the late 1940's or early 1950's. The Kiwi J peg couldn't be a copy, or could it?

So ....... just how DOES it work? Answers in the comments section please!!

A Day in the Life of a Peglomaniac .....

My search for pegs takes me to many places and provides countless stories. The one I am going to tell you now, started on Monday October 9th 2006, the day Korea set off an underground nuclear bomb.

At the time, we were staying with friends in Hong. DB (Dearly Beloved) and I woke up with just enough time to drink coffee and rush off in a taxi to the ferry terminal where we caught the high speed catamaran ferry (made in Western Australia). This took us to Lotus Hill, China, in one and a half hours. The shipping lanes were extremely busy and the pollution for the rest of the day was horrific -- like a low cloud.




We were led by our Chinese friend (CFJ) who grabbed a taxi and seemed to argue (in Mandarin) with the driver all the way to Su Liao Cheng or "plastic city" which was in the suburb of Pan Yu in the city of Guang Zhou. Try to imagine a rectangular area, say 300 yards wide and 100 yards deep. This area had hundreds and hundreds of shops with wide roads splitting them up. Every shop was selling plastic items and the roads were busy with motorbikes and delivery vehicles.



The first shop we entered had a huge display of single packets of pegs. Just one of each type and most of them I had never seen before! I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. Not being a Mandarin speaker, I just started to remove them from the display and left CFJ to ask about the prices. Total disbelief was followed by utter despair as CFJ explained that the miserable woman would not sell me any pegs unless I purchased a complete carton full. .... i.e. 144 packets of each. We tried offering her three times the price but no -- this shop was only for wholesalers. I was distraught. DB & CFJ had to drag me out of the shop protesting all the way.



With heavy hearts we moved on to the next shop -- another big display -- more negotiations but very little success -- though we did manage to get one precious packet as the sample was obviously obsolete. We moved on but it was the same story at each shop until at the fifth shop we managed to wear down the owner and he agreed to sell me any packets from his extensive display -- WOW. I filled my rucksack with the packets -- cost HK$162 about A$27.



We carried on trying shop after shop but with little or no success -- it was heartbreaking to see so many pegs that I didn't have but I couldn't buy them. The day was hot and dusty and I was feeling a mixture of exhaustion and disappointment mingled with exhilaration.



We decided to move on. This was difficult as we were in an industrial area where there were no taxis. We looked around desperately, wondering what to do next, when a local bus pulled up. Any port in a storm ... we all jumped on thinking that even if it didn't take us where we were heading at least it would take us to somewhere that had a taxi. Fortunately for us, it was heading in the direction of the Chime Long Safari Park and CFJ knew there was a hotel in the park where we could have lunch.

We were dropped at the entrance to the park, in a layby where there were three young motorcylists. Since the hotel was right in the middle of a safari park, a long and exhausting walk away, we were again looking around for a taxi. .......Ta da !!! CFJ to the rescue .... after much negotiation, CFJ declared that the motorcyclists had agreed to take us to the hotel. Whilst the riders went reasonably slowly (I had insisted before getting on), they also went the wrong way around roundabouts and the wrong way up dual carriageways -- we had no helmets and clung on for dear life. We half expected them to kidnap us if we didn't pay more because CFJ was arguing with them all the way. Visualise the sight of three wind blown guests arriving at this beautiful hotel on the back of motorbikes whilst still arguing over the price.



The superb buffet lunch laid out in the White Tiger Restaurant was about to be put away so we raced around filling our plates and then relaxing over a delicious selection of foods. I had king prawns, caviar, mussels, chicken, kangaroo and all sorts of beautiful sweets including durian turnovers.

After lunch we inspected the white tigers and pink flamingos in their glassed-in enclosures before catching a taxi (at last, a taxi!!) to the local bus station. Here we boarded a comfortable bus for the one and a half-hour drive to Shin Zhen. The pollution was terrible but the new skyscrapers everywhere were amazing. Out of the bus and straight into another taxi to take us to the Lo Hu commercial shopping centre where, after spending the morning trying to persuade people to sell us pegs, we spent the evening trying to avoid people selling us everything! "Missy you want DVD? Missy you want handbag? ". Yes, I know, I am a man and I look like a man, but it was still "Missy you want whatever". We all purchased various things before we became tired of the verbal haggling outside each shop. It was a short walk to the railway station where we boarded the fast train for Hong Kong. Then a tram trip to CFJ's apartment where I pulled out all my pegs and found I had collected 81 different ones. We were exhausted but I was a happy man.


What an eventful day and how many types of transport had we used?

Heartbreak Hill has a Happy Ending

One hot and lazy summer, we were cruising in our narrowboat along the Grand Union Canal north of Warwick. We were heading for Kingswood Junction having just negotiated the 21 double locks in the notorious Hatton Flight. Not for nothing is this lock-flight known as "Heartbreak Hill" and as it had been a hard drive, DB took over the helm at the top and I went down below for a well earned nap.


As the boat slowly passed the houses backing on to the canal, DB suddenly noticed a huge peg over a fence. To get my attention, she had to hoot the horn and when I emerged from the front of the boat she yelled at me with much excitement " Big Peg back there!!! ". We brought the boat to a halt and attempted to pull into the side of the canal, but it was silted up so badly that we ended up stuck fast in the mud and I threw DB off clutching a mixed bag of pegs we had recently collected from Bombay. Through the window of the house we had seen a man watching TV in his lounge. DB approached the back gate and found it locked. Somehow or other, she managed to attract the man's attention and he came out to see what her problem was. The conversation went something like this:

" Hello. Sorry to bother you, but, and I know it's strange, my partner collects clothes pegs...... " a bemused look overcame the guy's face, but she was undeterred .... " you have an unusual peg on your line and I wonder if you would swap it for these pegs here? " even more bemused, the man went to the clothesline and pointed to a very ordinary peg " Oh no! It's the other one I'm asking for. " The man returned with one big peg saying " These are my wife's blanket pegs. She only has three. " " Tell her these pretty ones are from India and you've made someone VERY happy ".

DB scampered back to the boat, which was only about 3 feet from the bank and somehow we managed to get off the mud and I jubilantly took over the helm to continue our trip.

After that, I searched the world for a copy of this peg and was rewarded two years later when I found them, in Chester of all places, in a shop called "Lakeland Plastics". Six months later, we were passing the back garden of that same house in Hatton so we stopped and I walked round to the front door and knocked. This time, the wife answered and I said " You don't know me but your husband gave me one of your blanket pegs two years ago and I have felt guilty, ever since, that he may have got into trouble. So here is a brand new replacement and thanks ".

There are now two bemused folk in Hatton, but for me Heartbreak Hill had a happy ending.

Patent Postie . . .

Happy New Year to everyone.

It promises to be a good year in Pegland and I am very much looking forward to telling you lots of stories!! This story is about my first postal delivery of 2007.

Here in my part of the world, our postie rides a 90cc Honda motorcycle and drops our mail in the mailbox which is outside on the street rather than into the letterbox in the door like they do in UK. Parcels don't fit into the mailbox though, they get delivered to my door by a big postie van, so all the other people in the units nearby are jealous because I've got a parcel ... te he.

Well, with the first delivery of the New Year I received a packet of pegs. They arrived from America (no fancy stamps unfortunately, just one of those label things) in a very large box due to masses of protective bubblewrap. They were the white/light blue pegs at the bottom of the photo and were manufactured in China.

These particular soft grip pegs are of great interest to me because I am fascinated by the way people, over the years, have redesigned the clothes peg to get round the problem of patent infringement.

The pegs in this photo illustrate my point. Look at the dark blue peg. This is a French design, which I understand was patented by a firm called "Zebra" in January 2005. With its soft grip, which is not supposed to spoil your delicate clothes, it commands a higher price and has apparently gained about 8% of the world market in clothes pegs. That is an amazing level of sales, so it is no surprise that other enterprising manufacturers and designers have jumped on the bandwagon and there are at least half a dozen other pegs around which are extreeeeeeeeemely similar to the original French one. The French one is expensive when compared to regular clothes pegs ... would you pay more for that soft grip?

Have a look at the others in my photo. Subtle differences are there but are they enough to beat the patent? Most of them are made in China. Is this because the Chinese are imitating the French or because other global designers are asking the Chinese to manufacture them? Will the patents be tested in court? What is the cost of defending a patent? Perhaps someone with greater knowledge of patents will tell me but in the meantime, I leave you with my photos.