Christmas Cracker Novelty

Crackers. There are good ones and not so good ones. Pay your money and you get a good one. In the more expensive ones the jokes are funnier, the paper hats are slightly better, and the novelties are worth having. At Moor Hall they buy the best, one of the reasons why the Christmas lunch is more expensive. They provide the festive hats separately so it's a toss-up whether to wear the the paper version that comes with the cracker or one of the ultra shiny witches hat or a colourful fez.

But I digress... back to the crackers. Most years I get things like a miniature packet of screwdrivers, a set of dice, or an up-market key ring, I've even had magnets, writing pads, and a working compass. This year though, the novelty was a mystery. Totally. We asked around but nobody knew what it was, nor had they seen anything like it before.

This is it. Can you guess what it is?

You will notice that there is a black cap at one end. This led us to believe that it was removable. That's great, except that we couldn't remove it. It twirled like a cap would but neither hubs nor I could pull it off. In between mouthfuls of dinner I tried to fathom it out. Inside the transparent tube were little things like this, although I didn't know that until later.

Ah, I thought, when I was back home and trying again, pins for pin boards.

They fitted neatly together inside the tube but I couldn't think what else to do with them.

There followed an in-depth examination which had my mind reeling.

I went to bed and left hubs still pondering.

Next morning I found the result of his ponders.

Scroll down to see the finished product.

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V

So much for my pins for pin boards idea. Yes, it's a pencil. Well, several pencils really, all clipped together to make a whole. When one wears out, replace it with another one. Simple!

Now tell me honestly, have you come across one of these before?