Jan did not participate in family life too willingly, except when it was possible to stay in the garage while doing so – like repairing something in the car or on the bike, or constructing something. He showed me how to make a really good slingshot once. You needed to do cut about 10 cm of stiff but not too thick insulated electrical wire, remove a centimetre of insulation from both ends so as not to damage it, use pliers to precisely bend the wire into the desired shape, and finally attach a piece of strong rubber band to it – by placing the insulation removed earlier on the ends, with the ends of the rubber band tucked underneath. The bent place forming the handle could then be stiffened using heat-shrink tubing. Small, one-and-a-half centimetre pieces of thinner wire, with or without insulation, bent into U-shape worked well as projectiles. Such a projectile would pierce quite thick paper and it would inflict quite painful wounds, even through clothing. When the power of this slingshot came to light, an attempt was made to take it away from me, but I promised to put it in a box and not to use it. I broke my promise very rarely. I never shot at birds.

 

The interlude is behind me. It is nearly eight minutes long. I’m plugging away through the last three scenes. Works goes quite smoothly and efficiently.