Zeus globe letter

This letter was retained with the operating papers supplied by Brellin Educational Hire after the Montperrin school exhibition.

From: Claire Vannier To: Paul Vannier Date: 12 May 2004 Subject: Saturday collection

The blue saucepan is back in the high cupboard. Did you put it there while it was still damp, and are you coming on Thursday or only sending Lucie for the keys?

I have paid the electricity bill and left your half under the telephone. Madame Rolin came about the hedge again, although it is her side that has grown into the passage. I told her you would look at it after the weekend. She accepted this because she still believes you own shears.

Saturday itself was quieter than expected. There were twenty-seven children at the first session and nineteen at the second. Martin Gillard arrived without the silver coat, so Mireille found him a grey laboratory jacket from the chemistry cupboard. He performed as Dr. Zeus anyway. None of the children objected to the missing costume, though one asked why a doctor needed gardening gloves.

The globe fitted beneath the hall lights with perhaps two centimetres to spare. When it turned, the painted oceans passed slowly over Mireille’s face and made her look alternately pale blue and green. I stood by the west wall with the collection tin. We took £46.30, less the £8 returned to Mrs. Abel when her twins became frightened by the equatorial lamp.

Armand adjusted the lower bearing before the second session. The casing had warmed by then. He knelt with one shoulder pressed against the waxed canvas skirt, which yielded under him and held the heat of his body after he moved. His sleeves were rolled exactly twice. There was a dark line of grease along the inside of his wrist, ending where the skin became soft beneath the cuff. He turned the collar with both hands, slowly, the muscles lifting and settling under his forearms as if the resistance were something he could feel before the metal gave. Then he wiped the collar, stood up and asked for the ordinary screwdriver.

I gave him the red one from your kitchen drawer. Please remind me to return it.

Martin says he will waive his fee if Brellin charges us for the delayed collection. I do not think we should accept that. He did the two sessions and stayed to help stack chairs. Whatever happened afterward belongs to the machine, not to him.

Love,

Claire

P.S. This is the part you will need for Brellin. At 17:18, Mireille followed the shutdown card. The turntable stopped, or appeared to stop. She disconnected the floor lead at 17:21. At 17:26 the globe began moving again, very slowly, while Armand and I were folding the canvas skirt. It completed almost one revolution before 17:34.

The hall caretaker says the socket remained live because the display shared a branch with the Retort rig. Armand says that makes no difference once the floor lead is out. I cannot settle which of them is right. There was no visible cable between the base and the wall after 17:21.

I copied Brellin’s required order below. Mireille confirms that she did steps one to three. She cannot remember the collar in step four, although it was fitted when we packed the base.

Shutdown order

1. Set the southern index beneath the fixed white mark. 2. Allow the globe to complete three further turns. 3. Lower the equatorial lamp before touching the drive control. 4. Fit the black transit collar and pass the brass moon key through the square guide. 5. Ask the presenter to remove both gloves. 6. Move the drive control to rest. 7. Wait until the four meridian lamps have faded in sequence. 8. Disconnect the turntable. 9. Remove the transit collar only after the painted coast of Lornay faces the operator. 10. Pack the upper hemisphere before the base.

The brass moon key was not in either equipment case when we opened them. Armand says he has never seen one supplied with this model.

I also had Mireille replay the little recorder because the voices begin before the second session and continue during packing. This is the useful portion. The clicking underneath is the cooling lamp, not a fault in the recording.

Recorded exchange

[Recording begins mid-sentence.]

A.V.: …because if it had caught, you would hear it at every quarter turn.

M.D.: I heard it twice.

A.V.: Twice is not every quarter turn.

C.V.: Martin, was the switch down when you took off the coat?

M.G.: I did not have the coat.

C.V.: The jacket, then.

M.G.: The switch was down. The blue lamp was still on.

M.D.: It cannot be on when the switch is down.

M.G.: It was on.

A.V.: There is enough kinetic energy in the shell for part of a turn, perhaps. Not eight minutes.

M.D.: You said the lower ring stores movement.

A.V.: It stores nothing. It steadies it.

C.V.: Please stop it before the caretaker comes back.

A.V.: I am not touching it while it is doing that.

M.G.: The ocean is warmer here.

M.D.: Don’t put your hand there.

A.V.: Where is the collar?

C.V.: Under the canvas.

A.V.: No, the other collar. The black one.

M.D.: I fitted it. I remember fitting it before I lowered the lamp, or after I lowered it. Claire, move away from the base because it’s beginning to…

[Recording ends while M.D. is speaking.]

The collection driver arrived at 18:05. By then the globe was stationary. He refused to load it without the missing key, then loaded it after telephoning someone at Brellin. His receipt records two cases and one canvas bundle, but not the base, although the base left with him. That is the point I need you to ask about, not the saucepan.

See also

• Bath fitting return — Retort rig
• Casano interval — Retort rig
• Défense du décalage — Retort rig
• Delay-loop counter-drills — Retort rig
• Dons croisés — Retort rig
• Excursion allowance — Retort rig
• Grey reference case — Retort rig
• Lettre à Locations Belrive — Retort rig