Jack´s blog [Time Out Columnist]

I´VE BEEN playing a bit of rugby for the uni seconds this season. It´s been so cold that people from the south (ie not me) have been crying and growing chilblains. My flatmate and fellow student Ern, who wants to make a fortune creating a device no one knew they needed, has been experimenting with finger-warmers for weeping rugby players. He destroyed his own eyebrows when he went down the lighter fuel route before deciding that the crystallisation pads were safer. The trick has been to make them thin enough so that your toasty-warm fingers can still catch the ball, and put the minimum amount of salt stuff inside so it doesn´t set too solid when activated. After I spent an entire match wearing his new Ern-o-matic gloves, my rigid, fat fingers dropping every pass, I asked him to experiment on one of the southern lads instead.