Muldivo AER
The Muldivo AER is the UK brand for the Thales AER. I suppose it must have been better from a marketing point of view in the 1920's not to sell anything too ostentatiously German in the UK - hence the rebranding. I bought this calculator together with an Odhner LUSID while driving to London in January to visit a model engineering show at Alexandra Palace, and the calculators were more or less on the way. Unfortunately, while I was driving from Folkestone to London, on the radio there was lots of talk of a snow storm. Since I had agreed to pick up the calculators in late afternoon only, I decided that I would visit the Royal Engineers museum in Kent. Mind you, the Royal Engineers are an elite military detachment that builds bridges over roaring whitewater using nothing but toothpicks, elastic bands and Krazy Glue- in winter, at heights over 5000 meters, without food, and while being shot at. And beaten. With sticks! When I arrived at the museum, it turned out to be closed. I had, however, checked the opening hours, which were also clearly advertised next to the door, and comparing my watch with what was on the sign, clearly it should have been open. So, undeterred, I rang the dorbell. A bemused looking gentleman in camouflage outfit came down a flight of stairs and opened the door. He then proceeded to tell me "Oh, I'm very sorry, we closed early today. We sent everyone home because of the snow storm". I decided I should go pick up my calculators in a hurry. When I arrived at the address where the calculators were hiding, the owner told me "oh, I came home from work early, because of the snow storm, it will be dreadful!". Luckily my hotel wasn't far - if the Royal Engineers are scared of a storm that is coming, it would probably be wise to hide away and sit it out. At this point I really started worrying whether I'd be able to get to Alexandra Palace at all. On the radio in the car, there was traffic mayhem everywhere, because everyone was trying to get home. Public transport had ground to a halt as well. I arrived at the hotel, parked the car, and had a nice dinner and a quiet night. When I woke up the next morning to drive to Alexandra Palace, I had to brush all of half a millimetre of snow off my windshield before I could leave. Talk about being "overly prepared" ...
