StrangeSights

A company in the US has developed an alternative to the bachelor party.

Known as a “toolbash”, this “wedding shower for a guy” is described as a “family-friendly, fun event where the activity centers around honoring the groom-to-be and giving him tools as gifts”.

Often held in a garage (or shed, as we might say in Australia), the creators say the toolbash usually involves some food, competitions and the giving of the tools, a metaphor, perhaps on equipping the groom for his life ahead.

Those behind the idea - who are marketing a “toolbash kit” on their website complete with instruction books and invitations - say that unlike a traditional bachelor party there are “no regrets after this one”.

“We believe these events can make a difference in a young man’s marriage, when he is making one of the most important decisions of his life,” say co-creators Mike Smit and Dave Hamilton in a statement.

“By gathering men around him and showing they support him…maybe they can help his marriage get started off right. We’d like him to realize he’s not alone if he runs into a problem or has questions.”

Raises the issue of whether we need to have “tool registries” to make sure there’s no doubling up. The idea also begs the question of what to do for those grooms (and they must be out there) who aren’t into tools? Are there any other alternatives around.

So much for our hopes for the Opera House. The Seven (New) Wonders of the World are (drumroll, please):

1. The Colosseum, Rome;
2. The Great Wall of China;
3. Christ the Redeemer (statue above Rio de Janeiro), Brazil;
4. Chichen Itza (Mayan city), Mexico;
5. Petra (a city carved into the rock), Southern Jordan;
6. Machu Picchu (Incan city), Peru;
7. Taj Mahal (tomb in Agra), India.

Well, they are a deserving group, though there is still a bit of an ancient feel to them and some obvious oversights - what about the Sistine Chapel?

Maybe there’s a need for a Seven “Modern” Wonders of the World (the American Society of Civil Engineers did create a list in the mid-Nineties but with a very American bias - it included the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, CN Tower in Toronto, the Panama Canal and Itaipu Dam in South America as well as The Channel Tunnel between England and France and the Delta Works in the Netherlands). Nominees could include the Sydney Opera House, Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty.