It's the last straw ...

Wherever you turn these days there's somebody trying to save the planet by either re-cycling, or not using plastic, or being eco-friendly in some way or another. I guess it's OK if it makes them feel good and they don't interfere with my life.

The latest target to attack, I understand, are straws. You know, those long tubes you use to suck drinks from a bottle or milkshakes from a cup. I like it when they make that burping sound at the end when you finish your drink - don't you?

Apparently, the latest type of straws are made of plastic and this is bad for the environment. Millions and millions are used just the once and they end up in the sea and it is bad for the fish because they do not like straws. So I understand.

The previous kind of straws, made of paper, are just as bad because they too end up in the sea and they are bad for the fish because they don't like paper either.

Has anyone thought of taking all the fish out of the sea since they are the common problem here? But I digress.

So the search is on for a more eco-friendly straw.

I read somewhere that a man has invented a straw made of pasta. Basically, it is a long tube made of pasta instead of plastic or paper. I think the man is a Scotsman called Mc Aroni. Anyway, his idea did not catch on because you have first to grow the wheat, turn it to flour, make the pasta straw which is used once and thrown away. This is uneconomical and more wasteful than plastic or paper, since you could use the pasta straws to feed the poor instead.

I have thought hard about this and I think I have come up with an alternative to the straw as we know it.

Make straws out of re-cycled bricks!

It's simple - take a brick, make a hole through it, and you have a straw.

Actually, you make a number of holes through the brick length-wise. Say four rows of six holes each. Then cut the brick length-wise and you have twenty-four tubes made of brick.

They would be the right length to use in bottles and cups. They can be cleaned and re-cycled. They are too heavy to end up in the sea, and if they did they would be an amusing addition to all the rocks already there.

The brick straw made of re-cycled bricks can itself be re-cycled.

I wrote to a number of investors for financial backing to launch this new invention, but none have replied.

If any of you reading this wish to invest please send me an e-mail.

I would have liked to have given you my home address to write to but, sadly, I have no home. All the bricks in my house have been made into straws.