We ordered a camp stove (it arrived today) and it doesn't have piezoelectric ignition so we need a way to light it. We wanted to get a long stick lighter and while searching for one the other day I came across the Turbo Stick pictured right. Apparently it reaches 1300°c and can be used for soldering. Is that just over the top? Will there ever be an occasion where a lighter that's as hot as the sun would in fact be useful? I very much doubt it. I think that having something that can get that hot possibly come into the hands of our 5 year-old* is just too scary a prospect to even consider, so we gave it a miss.

Instead I popped down to Cutlacks our local hardware/homeware store and picked up a bright orange long lighter like the one pictured left, there were other colours (see here) but I reckoned that the orange was the brightest and therefore hardest to lose. There were a couple of other options (including a giant match shaped one) but at £2.95 this was the cheapest, funkiest (in my opinion) and was full unlike some of the others. Oh and the button on the side you click to light it is quite stiff and so relatively childproof. We'll find out whether it's windproof at the weekend when we're off again.

*Before you ask, no we don't let our 5 year-old play with lighters but kids being kids and camping being a more relaxed/chaotic atmosphere than being at home there is the possibility he could get his hands on it while we're not looking.