Creativity: A little aid for some last-minute swatting

SWATTING proved to be the most popular choice in our quest for unusual uses for a tennis racket, writes William Hartston. 'Because of mesh size', Norman Elliott says, 'it makes a sporting fly swatter.' Lindsay Warden, who must encounter larger insects, thinks it would make an effective 'fly swat for mosquito lovers'. Liz Middleton suggests, for motives that she does not make plain, 'swatting performance-related pay indicators'.

Unpick them, says Jack Middleton, and distribute the catgut for use as sutures in operating theatres. Warming to the catgut theme, he also proposes they be used as a training device for naughty cats: 'Behave or you'll end up looking like this.'

Pauline Radley thinks they could be used by policemen or shepherds to direct their respective lines of traffic. As a filter system for coastal sewerage, in the garden as an earth sieve or trellis, or as a raft for the government, using another as a paddle.

Sue Rowlands took hers to the seaside and, while not disguising it with seaweed for use as an elaborate Yorkshire terrier trap, suggested a 'combination portcullis and flagpole for a sandcastle' or a 'tray to carry ice- creams and cups of tea to the beach'. A similar idea occurred to Toria Leitch: 'Quite obviously it should be used for its primary design function - as a tray for carrying champagne and strawberries. Failing this, it might serve the British well as a device for practising their tennis.'

Other ideas include re-stringing with optic fibres to make a new style of floodlight (Sam Rowlands), or with fine wire as an instant potato chipper (N Elliott, who also suggests a snowshoe for a one-legged eskimo), a sunbathing accessory 'to create an attractive and fashionable design on the skin', or a pooper scooper with the offending material 'lobbed over a neighbour's fence', or 'to form even strands of tagliatelle in pasta-making' (all Lindsay Warden). Best of all, however, was Iain Cowan's proposal of 'portable confessionals for itinerant priests'.

Turning away from tennis, we have received some further informative material about the number 42 from the Grammar School for Girls, Wilmington. Following earlier articles on the true significance of 42, the young ladies of Wilmington report several more sightings.

Sue Johnson, head of Religious Studies and Philosophy, points out: 'In Hebrew numerology, 7 is the number of perfection, completeness and wholeness (God rested on the seventh day), while 6 is the number of the world (which God made in six days). 42, the product of 6 and 7, therefore represents perfection and the world, or a perfect world, and looks forward to the re-establishment of the world in the state in which it should be.'

Her second point is even more convincing: 'The postcode of the Independent (EC1Y 2DB), if rendered into digits on the a=1, b=2 etc principle, with numbers retaining their value as set, adds up to 42: Therefore the Independent is obviously the answer to life, the universe and everything.'

For this week's creativity challenge, I am indebted to my first wife who, when painting her toenails, used pawns from a chess set to separate the freshly enamelled digits while the varnish dried. Any suggestions for similarly creative uses for pawns, or any other chess pieces, should be sent to: Creativity, The Independent, 40 City Road, London EC1Y 2DB.