The Kitchen Meter

The kitchen table of a terraced house in England on a winter evening, under a hanging lamp a small cream-grey plastic case with its lid open, its inner lid plain dark blue, inside a black meter about thirteen centimetres long with a smoked glass window with a soft even red glow, a small slide switch, a narrow slot and a round red push button, every part plain and smooth, a thin strip with a small orange-grey pad lying half inserted in the slot, the chair pushed back from the table, beside the case a plain glass tube of strips, a cotton wool ball, a glass of water, frost on the dark window.