How Hard Can It Be To Find A Waffle Iron Expert?

Pretty hard, as it turns out.

Last week, I phoned the Bakery Museum in Hattem and asked to speak to the curator. He still hadn’t answered my email, so I had decided to harrash him a bit, but of course I phoned at the wrong time. A receptionist informed me that the man was in the process of giving a bakery demonstration for a whole bunch of kids and wasn’t able to come to the phone. Was I aware that it was school holidays? Yes, I was. So then I knew I should phone back some other day. I knew and I would.

Yesterday I decided to give it another try even though it was still school holidays. Instead of the museum in Hattem (where demonstrations would probably be still in full swing), I phoned another bakery museum. The curator of this museum had once sent me an email with some info and I hoped he wasn’t one of the staff that gave demonstrations. The phone rang for quite a while. Then a grumpy female voice answered.

‘Bakery Museum’

‘Hi, this is Maria speaking. Can I speak to Mr So-and-so please?’

‘He’s not here.’

‘Oh… Could you tell me when he will be available please?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Right… er… Will he be available next week?’

‘Maybe. It’s school holidays this week, you know.’

‘Yeah… I know. I will try again next week, thanks.’

Not being someone who gives up easily I was now determined to find someone who could tell me more about waffle irons. I did some googling and found two numbers of so-called ‘open-air’ museums, which usually have a 19th century theme, with period rooms stocked with period furniture and implements.

At the first number I got an answering machine, stating I should phone between 10 and 2, which was what I was actually doing, but never mind.

At the second number I got a really nice man, who tried to be very helpful, but couldn’t really tell me much. He did give me the name of a book about 19th century artefacts, which might have something about waffle irons in it as well. He also invited me to a special Christmas themed day at the museum this coming December, when someone was going to bake waffles with real old waffle irons, and I promised I would come.

Still not having found out much more about waffle irons a thought suddenly hit me. Why hadn’t I rung the large regional Museum of Drenthe yet? I was sure I could find a proper expert there. After I had looked the phone number up on the net and rang it, I told the guy who answered:

‘I am looking for someone who can tell me a bit more about waffle irons.’

‘Then you should speak to Mr So-and-so. Unfortunatley he is on holiday until the 17th.’

‘No problem, I will give him a ring then, thank you.’

Have I finally found someone who can tell me more about waffle irons? I hope so. In any case, the regional museum is virtually next door to where I work, so I will give the man a ring on Monday morning to see if I can drop in during my lunch break with a picture of our famous waffle iron.