As tangled as a box of bungies.
I probably have more hands on time with bungies than a lot , maybe even most, people, and I can assure you, from bitter personal experience, that few inanimate objects , are quite so animated, as a nest of bungies (the approved collective noun) from which you are attempting to separate a single cord.
Bungies actively bite and wrestle!
But there is also a passive resistance. Such as that offered by my tradional wooden Christmas decorations (gift from my Norwegian familly). Every year, one of the December chores is to locate and unravel the 4 meters of string with alternating Reindeer (antlers and legs), Angels (wings and trumpets) and Bells.
They do not bite or wrestle. They exasperate and exhaust. Just when you think you’ve found the end of loop, another pair of reindeer lock antlers, and suddenly you’re back at square one.
I have bungie scars, but I have ocassionally actually lost to the Christmas chains (“not this year!” and back in the box they go after a wasted couple of hours…).
Beside these examples, mere fankled string or wool, pose little challenge. A dropped box of paperclips, a bag of guitar leads, a basket of snakes ** – not really a problem.
However this week, as part of a mad drive to organise and repair (which pairs naturally with a run of night shift), I had to replace some garden lights. A very long string of garden lights.
This particular string runs on the ground, over and under and around various, and I’d already removed the – failed- predecessors. Open the new box, extract the solar charger, and the lights follow. Or they should follow. But no, this entire length is wound such that each single light, must pass through and catch on loop after loop of it’s fellows. Everything has to be put down and each single bulb extracted, a new length pulled through, to catch again, and again, and again.
Of course, you can’t use any force or the whole circuits broken (while a close inspection in any December will reveal angels flying on one wing, several three legged stags with one antler, and some suspiciousl gaps where bells fall in the sequence).
Frankly, I think I prefer my odds with the bungies.
** In the distant past I owned a “seven language” – handy phrase book. It saw no use in international travel, it would perhaps have been a disadvantage. Among the various “handy phrases” – in all seven tongues – was the classic, ” I will not take this basket, it is full of snakes!” I always try buy a basket whenever I go abroad…….just in case.
Next week on IaDL : “No tomare esta canasta, esta llena de serpientes!”
Dalmallyfest the Asylum 