大象传媒

It seems there are as many uses for a wheelie bin as there are for a dead cat: it's an indicator of continued fitness and masculinity, a photographic medium, harmless entertainment for the kiddies and even a place to live...

Rob wrote: "A couple of years ago I was jumping up and down on the rubbish in my wheelie bin, something I often do when it gets full and there are still a couple of days till collection, when the bin shot out from under me.

Unfortunately I had forgotten I had put the trunk of the Christmas tree in the bottom, with a couple of bags on the top so the whole thing was top-heavy. As the bin shot from under me I fell on my side on the wheels which left me hardly able to breathe.

When I staggered indoors and told my wife I had fallen out of the wheelie-bin, she offered no sympathy for my obvious agony but laughed.

She delighted in telling the story to just about everyone we know. To our surprise, just about every bloke we told (and it was definitely a bloke thing) indulged in wheelie-bin jumping. If this is the case then wheelie-bin jumping is a secret but wide-spread practice amongst British males.

I would assume therefore that casualty wards across the country would be able to report on wheelie-bin related injuries. I would be interested to know."

Justin wrote: "I personally use our .

This summer I am being commissioned to go to Australia to show aboriginal Australians how to do the same with their wheelie bins.

Others I know use theirs as a sound system and a hot air balloon basket."

Robert wrote: "Thank you for the knowledge that other people see the logic of jumping up and down in their wheelie bins as a way of compacting rubbish.

As one of the few bits of exercise I get each week, I take the fact that I can still get into my wheelie bin as a sign of continuing fitness!"

Andrea wrote: After a couple of near accidents, my husband now uses one of our children to push the rubbish down.

He bounces them up and down on top of the rubbish and it works a treat. We may have to borrow children soon though, as our children are getting too big for bouncing!

Estella wrote: I used to teach French in a "challenging" school in the East Midlands. Whenever I asked the question: "O霉 habites-tu?" (Where do you live?), there would always be some child who would pipe up: "He lives in a wheelie bin, miss" - the ultimate insult! A near-fight would ensue!