Love a Lanyard

Last time we were looking at Universities my daughter became a little obsessed. "Ooh, I love a lanyard!" she would exclaim at every check-in desk. I was more excited by the free pens and canvas bags but with age I am beginning to see the value.

"Has anyone seen my keys?"

Instead of shouting, "Have you checked the fridge?" My family could reply, "Around your neck."

When I'm teaching I'm always loosing whiteboard pens (which are too thick to push into my ponytail) and I swear the board rubber has a life of its own. Teachers notoriously carry a whistle around their neck but maybe with all the lanyards I'm collecting I could start a trend.

Lanyards for keys, glasses, the ubiquitous to-do list notebook, diary, whiteboard pen, board rubber, name badge (it's important to remember who you are), and the whistle.

Yesterday, my Facebook timeline filled with pictures of Dads and as my friends are now heading towards their middle age the fathers sat with reading glasses, a pint of beer and a smug, 'I'm retired' smile. One Dad, however, was on a Segway with a lanyard around his neck. On the lanyard was an unidentifiable red item. I asked. It might be something important that I would want on my lanyard. "It could be the emergency stop button for when you fall off," she replied.

Oh yes! I want one of those. A proper stop-the-world-I-want-to-get-off button. Genius.

There is a problem, though. Lanyards suffer from the bead problem. You may have read a previous blog about the bead problem but if not here is a 

picture.