Opening the Time Capsule

Well at last we summoned up the courage to open the Time Capsule and as we were looking for nimble steady hands, Angus was duly elected to do the business! On went a pair of pristine white gloves; a nice clean tablecloth on the table and off we wentâ€¦!

First the wax sealer around the neck of the jar had to be prised loose, before the glass stopper could be attacked. The stopper appeared to be stuck, and we assumed by wax, so a hair dryer was purloined and finally with the blade of a knife, the stopper came away. Immediately, on inverting the jar a roll of paper tied with string fell out, followed by a rather odd smelling cork and then two fairly heavy packages with paper wrapping, sealed with embossed wax seals. This left rolls of paper, some of which was quite clearly a newspaper. The neck of the jar being narrower than the base, it was necessary to carefully wind tight the rolls of paper so that they could be withdrawn through the mouth of the jar. It was with some trepidation that Angus, gently did so, and wonders of wonders, first the newspaper then finally the hand drawn plans for the house were withdrawn from the jar. The newspaper was the 19 March edition of the Edinburgh Evening Post of 1831 and was in remarkably good condition.

That being enough stress for one evening, it was decided to halt proceedings at that point and leave the unravelling of the paper roll and the opening of the two mysterious packages until a later date.