Sunday, May 23, 2021

How not to die 101

 Raging storm here tonight ... the crashing of branches on the roof as fronts move through and the chill of a nasty sou-westerly.

It's been just over a year since (and you know the rest of the sentence wherever you sit on the globe). Right before our state government shut down regional borders and restricted travel, a few randoms turned up at the inlet where I live. Their thinking was that since this is one of the more remote places in the state, free of people and other anxieties, that it was a good destination to ride out what we all thought would be a month or so of this pandemic. Heh.

Anyway, a man turned up here in his camper van. He's a regular Bibbulmum track walker who normally lives in the city. We sat on the verandah one day and chatted. We were both a bit frazzled. He was contemplating returning to the city and I'd been consigned to teaching via zoom for the rest of semester. He started telling me a bit about his life. His brother had died in what was "a bit of an odd manner".

*Sarah's ears prick up*

Apparently this man's brother was about to go on a fishing trip and needed some worms for bait. The previous night, he'd had a yarn with someone at the pub about how to catch worms. So what you do right, is cut the female end off an extension cord and push it into the earth, then plug the male end into a power socket and turn it on. This punter told old mate's brother that the voltage through the soil would force the subterranean worms to the surface and that he could just go around and pick them up.

Perfect! So simple! So, he followed the punter's instructions to the letter. Unfortunately, when he went out in the morning to collect the worms, he was bare footed and had left the power on.

12 comments:

  1. Isn't this just the oddest yarn? And has anyone heard of electrocuting worms for bait?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Never heard anything like this. At least it was a quick demise. Better than a long drawn out suffering ending.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Strikes me (ha ha oh god I know this is NOT funny at all) that it would have been quite painful.

      Delete
  3. I just Googled it and apparently it is quite common but just get clear first. I'm with Susan on the ending though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Turn off the power I guess, would be a start.

      Delete
  4. Killed by earthworms. That's a new one on me! What a shocking way to go!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't know if you have ever heard of the 'worm charming' competitions which have been held here in Olde England for a very long time? Each contestant is allotted a patch of ground which he/she pats/dances on/shouts at, etc. and the winner is the one who brings the most worms to the surface. A friend of mine went in for one a while ago, and what he did was put his mobile phone on the ground, then called it using his friend's phone. He won by a huge margin.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is awesome. Did his phone vibrate, or play the Nokia song? I really need to know this.

      Delete