Toxic Custard - How To Destroy Your Video

Step 11: Explosive time

There was one more thing we wanted to do to the VCR to completely destroy it. We wanted to blow it up. To this end, Josh had spent the morning scouring the suburbs for sparklers. He had found some. Quite a lot of them. About three hundred, in fact. Enough to make a substantial bang, without us having to get into the shady (and probably expensive) world of illegal explosives.

The first task was to somehow pack them all into the machine. This required a little creative use of the crowbar to bend the case to make a gap big enough.

Naturally we were careful to take note of the instructions on the sparklers, which specified that close adult supervision was required. I was pretty sure that we were all legally adults, so we figured that was okay.

I checked in the manual for any instructions or hints on inserting explosives into the video recorder, while Josh carefully took the top of the case off and set about packing the sparklers in, leaving one sticking out as a fuse. We were also able to check the location of the toast, which was still in place.

We screwed the lid back on, and inserted the manual into the VCR for good measure, since we thought it would burn more easily than the VCR itself. If only I'd thought to bring along the warranty card and receipt, and the numerous repair receipts I had.

Cathy, being not only an adult, but a responsible adult, pointed out that it might be advantageous to have a bucket of water handy when we blew it up. This turned out to be a very good idea, and for this, Josh and I salute you, Cathy. It very probably saved us having to make an embarrassing call to the Fire Brigade later in the proceedings.

So, with loaded VCR primed and ready, and camera and bucket of water at the ready, we headed back to the skateboard track for detonation...

Conclusion: If you ever have to load a video recorder with explosives, make sure you are familiar with the basic layout and components of the machine. Circuit boards, tape bay, recording heads, toast, and so on.

Step 12: The Big Finish... Kaboom!

- How To Destroy Your Video

Don't try this at home, kids.