Now that I’m not allowed to drive a car, I spend a lot of time waiting in bus-stop shelters, so I amuse myself inventing spin-offs on what I see around me.
Here’s today’s collection of controlled dreaming about walking-stick “improvements”.
- a quick-access pouch for the cellphone
- a
walk-in-the-dark light
- a pepper spray exiting through the ferrule
- a foldout seat halfway up using the folding-fan principle
- flip-out feet for standing up stick while you fumble in your pockets
- compartments for bus-card, coins, cash-card, nip of whiskey
- a vinegar-spray against dog-attacks
- for dog-owners, a plastic-bags compartment and a snap-ring for a dog-lead, plus a reward-pellet container
- a voice-chip which says "Please call so-and-so I'm lost", triggered by cooling of the handle
Most of these are just plain silly of course, but there’s a big market out there for jokey retirement gifts such as a fully loaded stick might be.