"It looks like Tampax"
I've previously mentioned that I lived in France for several years while I was growing up. Kind friends in the UK used to send me copies of trendy teen magazines for me to read, and I went through a phase of sending off postcards for every free prize draw that was mentioned. However, living in France meant that, under the terms and conditions of most of the competitions, I was not eligible to enter. So I would put my Gran's address instead, thus pretending that I was a UK resident.

One summer, I saw every teenage girls dream prize: a rucksack full of beauty products, from a hairdryer to make-up and everything in between. I knew it had to be mine. So I decided to send off 20 postcards into the draw.

The following week, I saw the same prize in another magazine! What were the odds?! So I sent off another 10 cards in hope.

Then promptly forgot all about it.

Several months later, my Gran phoned my Mum, to tell her that "lots of packages" had arrived for me, and that "it looks like Tampax".

Yes, the promotion had been run by the UK's friendly fanny-pad manufacturer, and every entrant got a free sample. So sue me for not reading the small print.

It was a bugger getting the things over to France, but when they arrived their uses were endless (missiles fired from a blowpipe, dipped in paint and used to decorate the art room at school, they would get hidden in schoolbags and bedrooms of every male friend and relative we knew. oh how we laughed).

F x
(Flurble - The Innocent One, Fri 5 Aug 2005, 18:17, Reply)