Oh no. Knot again!

Ever wondered why it’s impossible to coil earbuds up without getting the cable into a tangle. It would be easier to unravel the Gordian Knot than it is to try picking apart the bird’s nest that spontaneously appears out of a mere 1 metre of audio cable. One moment it is neatly coiled around three fingers and carefully placed into a pouch. Nothing much happens in the pouch …. probably. And yet, when extracted, my neat coil has metamorphosed into an amorphous, randomised mass of wire and plastic. The earbuds and jack, though obviously the endpoints, seemingly fused into the tangled mass that is the interconnecting segments of wire. No matter how I start, as I loosen one section, another tightens and makes the whole unpicking process that much more tedious.

Which end should I start from? The jack - only one of those. Or the earbuds — two of those and an awkward shape guaranteed to catch annoyingly with each loop they’re threaded through. No matter how I start, the process is lengthy and for short tube journeys, almost not worth the effort. Maybe I should follow another philosophy, just pull the ends out and tighten the knots. Then, if the music sounds a bit strangled off and choked, at least I’ll know why.