Under my Nubrella...ella...ella...

For many years I've lived my life as a tightwad. But this week I did something extremely rash and impulsive. I had what I call a "Trademe Moment" (Trademe being the New Zealand equivalent of E-bay). Actually it's not the first Trademe Moment I've had but it's certainly one of my more expensive ones.  It happened once before when I bid on a Ladyshave Barbie which turned out to be some 12 year old snot who had attacked his sister's Barbie doll with a vivid and glued some hair on her pits. I genuinely thought it was a limited edition collector's item. Boy, was I mistaken! I don't even want to think about where he got that hair from! Anyway, that only cost a dollar - which I thought was very reasonably priced for a possible future antique.

So anyway, I was browsing Trademe and came across a Nubrella. I've been searching for the perfect brollie for years. I went straight to the official website HERE and by the time I'd finished watching the video I wanted that contraption more than anything in this world! Okay, it was a little expensive by the time the exchange rate and postage kicked in but it would be an investment. The Nubrella is a HANDS FREE umbrella that never blows inside out! According to the video, if I have a Nubrella, I'll be able to: Ride a bike! Drive a tractor! Push a baby stroller! Talk on my cell phone! Pull a wheelie suitcase! Quite possibly all at the same time!

It arrived today - within 48 hours of ordering it. Impressive. I had told all my friends at work and on Facebook that I was getting it. They laughed hysterically, quite possibly because they were overcome with jealousy and weren't sure how to deal with their emotions.  One of the first people I showed it to was my Mum. I knew she'd appreciate a great invention when she saw one. Funny thing is, she became hysterical too. I would have thought an 84 year old woman would be able to control her emotions and I really didn't get what she was spluttering about Agent 86's Cone of Silence at all.

As luck would have it, there was a sprinkle of rain while I was visiting my mum. I was hoping for a downpour but a sprinkle would do for a test run while I went out to her front garden to steal feijoas from her tree. She lives on a main road too, so that would give the general public the opportunity to be exposed to something new and innovative.

In just one fluid movement...

Okay, maybe two fluid movements...

Stylish!

Okay, so maybe the website neglected to mention that this contraption may not be best suited to the extremely claustrophobic...but I got my breath back eventually. Note the nifty harness which enables the user to wear the Nubrella with HANDS FREE!  Fitting through the screen door took a bit of negotiation but it was worth it to hear the toots and shouts of joy from passers by when they saw this vision of modern technology step out in front of them.

Note the handy dandy feijoa picker-upper doofer* I borrowed off my mum.

I am using my HANDS (and a doofer) to pick up feijoas in the RAIN!

Mother load! And it's all thanks to my Nubrella!

Oh, there is one other fabulous thing about the Nubrella. Once the sun comes out and you finish using it, simply pack it away into this nifty not-so-little carry bag that can simply be slung over the shoulder.

Ummm...It seems that the inventor, Alan Kaufman has a sense of humour ;-p

* Doofer - a word borrowed from Burger Fuel that I learned from K over the weekend.