When I was a teenager, we’d make rudimentary mortars. We’d take a length of pipe, jam it at an angle, and prop a hairspray can with its bottom sticking out. We’d light a small fire beneath the contraption and step back. Once the can had warmed, we’d shoot the bottom out with an air rifle. A gout of flame would drive it up the pipe and arc it high above the cracked concrete. With luck, air leaked into the can as it flew, mixing until the sweet spot, where it burst into a secondary explosion midair.

Fiction Bite - Homemade Explosives

The wine glasses glistened as they paraded on the draining rack, standing to attention like well-drilled soldiers. The soapy water wafted a cloud of steam into the sunny kitchen air, mingling with birdsong and that classical music drifted from the radio.

BANG!

Kate whipped round towards the sound, her outstretched still-soapy arm catching the glasses, which tumbled through the treacle-slow air onto the slate tiled floor. The noise forgotten, Kate stared at the rainbow of shatters that shone at her feet, her best set, the last heirloom of her grandma. The back door swung open and sparkling sunshine silhouetted her son in the doorway, a still smoking drainage pipe in his hand.

‘Are you OK, Mum? You scared us.’

Quote of the Week

‘If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to accept the ordinary.’ Jim Rohn.

Something to Try

No, I’m not going to recommend you make homemade weapons. However, I think the spirit behind it is joyous. Curiosity and ingenuity pared with rebellion. Did you ever take things apart as a kid? So you could see what they did, and also maybe a little because you knew you shouldn’t? Or jump the fence right by the ‘ No Trespassing’ sign, just to find out what they were hiding. People playing it safe don’t make brilliant discoveries. Neither do those doing the normal or the obvious. Go find something great this week. If even only a new recipe, a walk, or just maybe a projectile.

Final Words

Why don’t we do more experiments? Why aren’t our back gardens filled with mechanical contraptions, or fridges full of outlandish meals and our days out always full of awe and wonder at somewhere new? For some of you, maybe this is the case. Or you might be like me, mainly a creature of habit, doing the same old things I know make me happy, ish. It seems safer, more predictable, takes less effort. But on the occasions when I push out into the unknown, there’s a familiar thrill, the tingle of chosen uncertainty, and I wonder why I don’t do this more often. Here’s to trying this week

With Love

Joe

P.S. What did you think of this week’s email? Which was your favourite bit? Hit reply and let me know.