There are certain signs someone has too much time on their hands, maybe they have an encyclopaedic knowledge of non-league football results from 1968-74, or the only thing in their diary for the next fortnight is to watch reruns of Friends.Another sure-fire sign someone is suffering from nothing-to-do-itis is if they have made a 6ft 7in tall ball of over 720,000 rubber bands which has become too big to fit in their house.
Meet Joel Waul from America, who says he started making his giant rubber band ball five years ago after seeing a TV show where one was dropped from a airplane.
Since then the 28-year-old clothing store worker (we were sure he would have worked at a stationary store) has spent his 'free time' wrapping elastic band of all colours and sizes together. After snapping up the bands on eBay and in discount stores the ball grew in size and had to be moved from inside Waul's house to the garage and eventually to the driveway. How it didn't get rolled down a nearby hill by local children remains a mystery - though the fact it weighs more than five tons may have had something to do it.
The ball - which measures 25 feet, 4 inches around - has now been bought by Ripley's Believe It or Not for an undisclosed fee and will go on show in one of their museums of the weird. Joel meanwhile, will have to find another way of wasting his life.
