Shoes laces, where would we be without them? Tripping all over the place for a start. They’re a handy invention for most of us, allowing us to fasten our footwear tight enough so that it doesn’t fly off. But you would think the use for shoelaces would be limited specifically to the shoe, that there would be no other use for them, but you would be wrong.
Turns out they can be used to prop of valuable machinery. At least that’s what they were used for by Max Simpson.
Max, 21, a student at the University of Lincoln studying for his masters in Electronical Engineering told the story of how he was driving his 1994 Volkswagen Polo from his house in Skegness to the university for a meeting he had for the University of Lincoln Pool Society, when, all of a sudden, he saw sparks flying out of the back of his mirror.
Once he pulled over Max had discovered that the exhaust had fallen out of his car. It had fallen off and was dragging along the road as he drove. Max said that it was “lucky that no one was behind him.”
Max was determined to get to his meeting though, only issue being that he had to somehow get there without creating his own fireworks display. Having no rubber to tie the exhaust back into place he looked for the next reasonable piece of equipment he could find…his shoelace.
He took out the lace from one of his shoes and tied the exhaust back into place, and shockingly, when he pulled over to check that the exhaust hadn’t overheated, he found that, in his own words it was: “pretty fine.”
He got to his meeting thankfully, but something that really is equally as astonishing is the amount of mileage he got out of it. Max had found out his exhaust fell off half-way through his journey, once he had fixed the problem, he had 20+ miles left on his way to the University.