View Point: Novelty Items

The Japanese marathon champion, Naoko Takashashi, who ran at this year's Olympic games in Sydney, became famous overnight more for the curious potion she drank before her race than for the gold medal she won.

It was her habit to consume the stomach juices of giant killer hornets before racing. The hornets that produce this juice average three inches in length and fly the equivalent of two marathons in a day at approximately 32 miles per hour and, being 100 per cent natural, this exotic drink gave Takashashi a perfectly legal performance-enhancing rush.

No surprise then, that already a Japanese firm intends to manufacture the juice as a health drink. How the firm will collect the juice is a mystery at present. For those who wish to obtain some of this magic potion by independent means, I shall share with you the secrets behind wasp hunting that I learned from a letter published recently in London's Daily Telegraph.

Of course, a wasp is not quite the same thing as a killer hornet, but the difference between the two cannot be so very great. In fact, this simple technique should work with any beastie of a modest size if you have the patience and dexterity to do it right.

First, wait until a hornet settles on the jam and toast or chocolate cookie that you've placed on the table to bait him. Then hurry to close the window so that he cannot escape. Next, take a length of white cotton and pull it taut against the hornet's waist, pressing one finger down on the glass on either side of the little stripy fellow to hold him in place.

Now, call for assistance. With another length of cotton, tied in a loose half-knot, your assistant should slide the loop under the hornet's tail and tighten it around his waist. Next, trim the second length of cotton (that around the hornet's waist) so that one end is ten inches long and the other two inches. Hold these reins while removing the first restraining thread, then open the window and release the hornet into the sky.

The idea behind giving the quarry this fancy cotton belt is that it should slow down his flight and make him more visible to the naked human eye. (Personally, I recommend shocking pink cotton thread, not white, for fear that the hornet should take refuge in a cloud and thus be lost to sight.)

At this crucial stage, call for more assistance, for this is when the hunt truly begins as the hornet, theoretically, makes for home. Once in the hornets' nest, you should find the rest of the family, their buzzing stomachs full of power-juice.

Now, it is but a simple matter of removing the juice from the stomachs and drinking it. Instructions on the delicate process of extraction will follow at a later - as yet uncertain, but probably never - date. For now, practise lassoing your hornet. If nothing else, it will help while away the long winter evenings.