A Great Idea...?

Chamomile roots and hyacinths

Have you ever seen a new invention and thought “That was my idea”?  

I come up with  (I think) loads of ideas all the time which I imagine would make my life a lot easier but just assume they exist already or get distracted. 

Even if I did have a great invention it’d take years to design and get onto the market and as I have the attention span of a few seconds nowadays it just seems like too much trouble. I wouldn’t want to go on Dragons’ Den either. 

Big Idea

One idea I had when I was a youngster was to have a car fuelled solely by a tank of rain water with some sort of natural reaction happening. The vehicle would have no moving parts other than the wheels and steering and need no maintaining. We’re not there yet with the water power but electric cars are certainly becoming more common and it won’t be long before we wonder how on earth we managed with the combustion engine run on petrol and diesel. The negative press is happening already with diesel – watch out for the hype!

I did have one great idea that actually became a big seller in the transport industry. Way back in the 1980’s I used to work in a quarry and used to see the HGV drivers struggle every load to fasten all the clamps that kept their sheets in place on the tipper section. I thought at the time it would be a better idea to do away with the clamps and have a rolled up sheet at the front or in the middle of the tipper similar to a roller blind.

 My idea is made...

Thirty years later they are on most tipper lorries now and probably save up to an hour a day where the driver has to scramble around fastening sheeting.  The only problem I had with this great idea was I forgot to tell anyone at the time, so there are no royalties coming my way. Although after saying that I think the same mechanism would work perfectly for instant plant covers in the garden made with thick transparent plastic sheeting. They could be rolled on and off in an instant. You heard it here first.

A revolving shelter

I have one more idea, a recent one (they just keep on coming). This came about whilst walking the dogs in our local park. Apart from a few trees, there isn’t anywhere along the pathways in the park where you can take shelter when the rain comes. Sometimes the shelters that are erected in parks don’t do their jobs very well especially when the wind is blowing straight at it. It’s the same principal as huddling in a bus shelter.  

How about having a shelter where you can revolve the opening depending on which way the wind is blowing?  It’d be similar to bandstand type of structure with half of it having a revolving screen.  If there was a device on the top of the roof like a weathervane to operate the screen that’s do away with us having to do it manually. The idea doesn’t stop there, fit a smaller, portable device to an umbrella or it could be incorporated into your porch - or better still the whole house! I think I’ll stop now; winter madness seems to be setting in. 

Lots of Life

I will be keeping my sanity looking at life under the soil this week. It might not seem as anything is happening in the garden but there are many signs of life if you look closely - so enough of this ‘winter dormancy’ malarkey. The bulbs are coming up, daffodils, hyacinths and crocus are bursting into life and the roots of perennials are forming fast. I dug out a few of my chamomiles and the roots have grown a few inches in a week. We don’t even have to look on the ground for signs that spring is coming as there are some hazel trees with their catkins showing already. The shops are stocking up on seeds so it won’t be long until planting time starts.

PS. I’ve been reliably informed that moveable transparent plastic covers for plants already exist and have done for years. Also I’ve just run the idea past Julie about revolving shelters in the park and she tells me “That’s what trees are for””

 My idea of a greenhouse heated entirely by solar radiation isn’t something new either so I’ll give up inventing for today I think.