A post on a boating forum I use has reminded me of something from many years ago, but I know they wouldn’t appreciate it, so I thought I’d post it here where it will be appreciated by more broad minded people with a sense of humour. Lots of stuff has multiple uses, we do things like use large sockets to push bearings in, and credit cards to scrape ice off car windows. My first multi-use item is:- Condoms. Obviously they can be successfully deployed for their intended original use, Special forces carry them for water storage and waterproofing, and obviously they can be used in various party tricks. There are probably many other uses for them. As a teenager still at school my Saturday and holiday job was in a workshop building packaging machinery which were mainly exported by sea. Them were the days for the UK! The machines had lots of exposed hydraulic cylinders as they were supplied in a knocked down state. The company had spent years trying different ways of protecting the cylinders from corrosion in transit, but had never managed to find anything better than a Condom stretched over the cylinder. So one of the last operations on each machine before being packed up was to ensure all the exposed cylinders were protected from the elements. Or as the workshop foreman used to say - "Protected from the sailors". My second multi-use item is:- Tampons. Obviously again, very successful for their original use, but also have other uses, mainly comical, such as the lass I know that turned up to a fancy dress party in shorts and T shirt with an Australian style hat where the Corks had been replaced by Tampons. She'd come to the party as 'A Sunny Period' Again at my job in the packaging machinery factory the company needed a solution to soak up leaking Hydraulic fluid in some tight spaces during transport, so had hit upon the idea of popping a Tampon in the tight spaces which did the job nicely. So, as a 14-16yr old spotty youth, the lads in the workshop would take huge delight in sending me off down the chemist to buy ½ a dozen packs each of Condoms and Tampons nearly every Saturday morning. The looks I would get from the counter staff! What they thought I was up to I can only imagine, but they never asked. Nasher.
