I needed a pencil sharpener today. I already have one but it's only good for ordinary pencils. I have a thick silver pencil - more of a crayon really - that I use for weathering the edges of panel lines on models and it is too big to fit in the sharpener. So, as I was passing by a Woolworths today, I popped in to see what I could get. I thought that one of those big plastic pencil sharpeners that kiddies have would be suitable.
I was astonished to find that there were no pencil sharpeners on sale at all. Neither were there any pencils. So, I asked an assistant. I was told that the shop no longer sells pencils "because of health and safety". They are scared that a child may hurt themselves on a pencil and so the shop from which the pencil was bought could then become criminally liable.
I still don't know what to think about that...
Anyroads, the newsagent two shops down had no qualms about selling me a big purple pencil sharpener with a gonk sat on it.