The Yo-Yo of Doom

For Christmas, one of the more incidental but highly useful presents I received was a pair of earphones, bought to replace several previous pairs which have been lost in the mists of time and several house moves. What was particularly delightful about this gift was not the earphones (Philips), but the circular case in which they came. The earphones came tightly wound around an invisible central spool, with earpieces carefully recessed into snug plastic mouldings. I thought the packaging was excellent: neat, compact and clever. No trailing wires would hang out of my bag or snag upon my keys. Ideal.

But then I tried to unwind the earphones and couldn't do it. In fact I tried several times. Jonathan gave me a lengthy tutorial on the appopriate methodology and I thought I had mastered it. But no. I have just tried to take them out of the case for the first time on my own (to listen to Radio 4 online) but couldn't do it. Not even to save my life.

I have grappled with the bloody thing for a full ten minutes now. I decided that the case must be destroyed and would have to be sacrificed, such was my determination to release the headphones. I tried to prise it apart with a ruler, then I tried using a pair of scissors to try and lever the infernal plastic spindle apart. Either someone has superglued the bloody thing together or I am weak and defeated. They won't come out. Well the earpieces come out a bit, and so does the plug bit, but everything in the middle is trapped. I just plugged them in with the plastic casing still grasping most of the wire, forcing me to lean forward with my ear inches away from my computer screen. Luckily no-one saw.

[Guest blogging by Vic]