WurzelTip #2

Last Sunday I dropped my mobile in a cup of tea. Don't ask how, I've no idea, I just watched as it jumped out of my hand, arced through the air in slow motion and landed dead centre with an almighty splash in a full cup of tea . Needless to say, one dead Nokia.

Hours of blasting it with a hair dryer finally resulted in it switching back on but no signal. Next day I stuffed it into my air conditioner vent for the day, giving it a constant blast of dry air. Still no signal and the phone was now behaving rather strangely.

Then a couple of people suggested sealing it in an airtight bag full of rice, rice being a gerat moisture absorber. I tried this, placing it on a radiator for good measure to add warmth and was surprised at quite how much condensation started to appear on the inside of the bag 2 days on from my first attempts at drying it out. The condensation vanished, obviously absorbed into the ice as predicted. By the end of the day I had a fully functioning phone again.

Wurzel Tip #1

The first in a (occasional) series of handy tips from the World of Wurzel.

This one comes courtesy of my youngest daughter. A couple of weeks ago she randomly told me that ground black pepper stops bleeding.

This morning I put it to the test. I suffered one of those shaving nicks that produces more blood than an amputation. 20 minutes and half a toilet roll, face putty (my own concoction of talc and savlon cream) and dabs of aftershave later, the crimson stream continued to pour down my neck, leaving a bright red stripe down my body as it headed to the floor.

Then I remembered Li'l Wurzel's advice. Black pepper, sprinkled onto my hand then a fingertip full dabbed onto the cut.

It works ! Instantly !!

I've no idea why, no doubt some scientist can explain, but clearly it's an old wives - or in this case young daughter's - tale that rings true.

One word of warning though - it stings like buggery !