What's a plummet?

My name is Ralph and I live in South East London. A week or so ago I decided that as I am now pushing 60 and my 'little' brother, Tim, is now pushing 50, it was about time we found something we could do together that we were both interested in. We hit upon fishing. Having never fished before (other than sticklebacks from a stream 50+ years ago) I decided to search the internet for information and guidance. As the heading will tell you I had zero knowledge of fishing techniques, tackle or even the fish. I am pleased to tell you the task was successful. I am now an expert on all aspects of fishing with a rod and line - I have watched several on-line videos and read many pages of text....

... All joking aside, I have learnt the very basics. A few days ago I had no idea how to attach a float to the line or what a plummet was, let alone what it is used for. I am about to take the plunge and buy some gear for myself and hopefully get my brother along as well. He did some fishing as a kid but when he was interested in fishing, due to the age gap, I was more interested in the birds and I do not mean the feathered kind.

I have been reading some of the fishing forums and even joined one or two, to get some advice on how to start. All good advice too, so I have ordered a rod and reel, as recommended by one of the forum members, and reserved a starter set at Argos that was on special offer. I suspect that some of the stuff in the starter set will get replaced fairly soon but with an outlay of about £130.00, all in, I have more than enough kit to allow us to go and drown a few unsuspecting maggots. I wonder If Tim has told his wife he will be storing the bait in the fridge...

I will post some pictures of the kit tomorrow and work out what else I need. First on the list will be a couple of nice comfy seats; don't want this to be too stressful.

Ralph.