But it's tax deductible

[stephbg]

On regular occasions Husband and his co-workers are required to wield a cat o' nine tails in the course of their duties. Some bright spark decided that this represented a marketing opportunity for the prison, and so the gift shop stocks an amusing range of whips, chains, handcuffs and balls-and-chains.



That bright spark has hopefully been rewarded with a brand new stapler, for these items sell extremely well and are often out out stock. This became a problem for one of Husband's female co-workers when she found herself without a regulation cat o' nine tails before a shift. She was forced into the virgin territory of a sex shop to buy one, and described it as the most embarrasing five minutes of her life.

Now, lots of people go to sex shops. Some even do it for the articles; others purely for the purposes of research. And it's always nice to see how many people buy things "for friends". Others just like to have a bit o' accessoried fun. Our protagonist was none of these.

Imagine her trying to explain: "It's for work... my boss made me do it... I work for the government... it's OK, I'll only use it on paying customers... I mean strangers... tourists and sailors... in the prison. It's always dark. Can I have a tax receipt please?"

Poor lass.

Comments

[possbert.livejournal.com]

I discovered that there's never a sex there when you want one. For Orton's What the Butler Saw, I had to make a large bronze replica of Winston Churchill's willy. It got held aloft at the end of the play and so had to look like a reasonable facsimile. No, I've never seen Churchill's willy and so had to guess what it looked like.

I figured the easiest thing was to get a willy from a sex shop but all the shops I knew of, but had never visited, weren't where I thought they were. There used to be one at the shopping centre on Albany HWay in Bentley, but it's gooorn.

In the end, if you'll pardon the expression, I borrowed one from the University Dramatic Society - apparently they used it in their most recent production. I put the cardboard tube from a toilet roll around it to give it stability (it was very wobbly) and painted it in black and bronze paint (it was very pink).

Tah dah!

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

Are you chasing any odd props ATM?

[possbert.livejournal.com]

I'm not responsible for props for Sarsaparilla but have offered to help source them. Oddest? Vol 1 and 2 of Gibbon's Decline and Fall. Most difficult will probably be the 1961 editions of the Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Sun.

We also need milk bottles which I actually have! I bought them on Ebay a couple of years ago just in case...