Something just a little bit different this week, a customer’s house name, but a name with a difference. This unusual name was on a customer’s house where I swept recently in Halstead. I was baffled by the house name as it did not appear to be in English, but the clue to its meaning is in the picture of a chimney on the house sign. Perplexed I asked the customer what it was all about. The lady who originates from Scotland informed me that it was a Scottish good luck saying, and not as I had thought, about smelly chimney! The Scottish saying goes “lang may your lum reek”; which means long may your chimney smoke or may you have a long and contented life. Lum being Scottish for chimney. It was originally a traditional Hogmanay toast, but has passed into English usage in Scotland. It is used primarily as a toast when drinking or as a farewell. So in many ways this saying is much more than just about a smokey chimney!