Tommy Cooper hand driers

A couple of years ago, some of us were asked by a trade publication to give our suggestions for the three best inventions of the late twentieth century, to be published in the Millennium Edition.

(Really ?

As long ago as that ?

Doesn't time fly ?)

Anyway, I was rather busy at the time, and, without giving it too much thought, stuck down the three most obvious ie, in no particular order

Luggage with wheels
Oral sex
Microwaveable porridge

This caused a bit of a stir among my more pedantic colleagues, who claimed that porridge had the potential to be microwaved before Mr.Spencer  invented his little box with the turntable and the light.

Honestly. Some people.

However, were I to be asked to update that list, a very strong candidate for inclusion would be the Dyson Airblade hand drier, which I find currently installed in many of the upmarket lavies which I frequent.
This machine features a vertical slot into which you place your dripping digits  before moving both hands up and down while involuntarily mouthing the immortal catch phrase ...........

And talking of innovative engineering....
I was killing time in the Victorian Booking Hall (Travel Centre) at Waverley Station ( the only main line railway station to be named after a novel ?), and spotted a plaque commemorating Sir Nigel Gresley. Now, if you think A4 is a paper size, and pacific is an ocean, then you never stood at the end of a platform in the snow and watched "9" go hurtling north in a clatter of Walschaerts valve gear.