Drinking Straw Project

Image: Getty Images

Have you ever heard a song and sung along with it thousands of times but never actually listened to the lyrics?

How about "The Piña Colada Song" - or to give it it's proper title "Escape" by Rupert Holmes?

This is not a song about meeting someone with similar interests like drinking Piña Coladas or getting caught in the rain.

No.
This is a song about a guy who is cheating on his wife!
Who has planned to cheat on him!!

How'd I miss that?

I was reminded of the song this week - thankfully not because my wife was planning on cheating on me or me on her but because I found myself drinking Piña Coladas in the Spanish coastal town of Calp

With each new round I was shocked with the growing number of straws that were being placed in the glass. At first there was just got one black straw, accompanied by a swizzle stick and a piece of fruit. By the end there was 3 straws, the swizzle stick and half a pineapple with purple and red feathers protruding from the top tickling my nose. The only thing missing was a cardboard cut out of Del Boy from "Only Fools and Horses".

The only reason I can think of for the increase in the amount of straws was to help aid in ones attempt to get plastered.

I will admit that once or twice I struggled to get my teeth around one straw and having more to choose from dropped the odds of missing dramatically.

I did mention this was happy hour, didn't I?

Upon leaving the bar I noticed the bin at the back which was now full of discarded straws of varying size and colour and of course I felt that this was a real shame. And so, once I began to sober up I got my thinking cap on.

There are tons of great little ideas on the web about recycling straws but this is one of my favourite ones that I found over on WikiHow.

Heart shaped paper clips.

Image: WikiHow

All you need is the straws, a pair of scissors, and these instructions.

1. Cut a little section (about an inch) off the straw.                               2. Press the section to make it flat.     
                             

Image: WikiHow

Image: WikiHow

3. Cut it as shown in the picture.                                                      4. Add a cut so you can clip it to paper.

5. Open up the heart                                                                     6. Clip to paper as you would a paper clip

You could also use these heart paper clips as a simple bookmark or if you cut up a few straws of different colours you could sprinkle them inside a gift box for added effect.

As for music, I think I need to go and listen to the rest of the songs on my iPod for unheard lyrics because I'm not really sure if the song "I'm Too Sexy" is really about a man who thinks he's too sexy for his shirt, his car, the cat and ultimately the song.

Note to self:
Get better music for iPod.
Immediately!