Handbags   (The sad, the bad and the ugly. Non-productive stuff here.)

"it's ages since I saw anywhere selling paraffin!"

I wonder if garden centres sell the stuff? They still manufacture and sell greenhouse heaters fuelled by paraffin. Chandlers seem to also do paraffin. I guess some boat owners still are using paraffin heaters.

We used to sell paraffin in the 1950's. Although we had a shop, we also had a coal delivery business. The paraffin was bought in 55 gallon drums (About one weeks worth of stock as long as weather did not turn very cold) It was kept in an outhouse behind the property, and people would turn up any hour of the day or night wanting to buy paraffin, and it was yours truly usually tasked with dispensing the stuff.

We had ceased by 1960's: it was smelly fuel for home heating, and gas was becoming more economical.

It appeared to get a new lease of life in the 1970's when power cuts could leave you in the cold. The drip feed paraffin heaters were quite effective heaters, though I recall they were responsible for some house fires: not sure if they ended up banned.

Paraffin seemed to disappear rapidly thereafter. I think hardware stores quit selling the stuff in late 1980's.