Dali giraffe with corned beef can…

Gaynor and Holly spent the afternoon in the sun on the beach. I on the other hand didn’t. Damn this sunshine, it fills my head with sea and sand and makes me want to get back to my beach creature building again. After all, I still have my Dali giraffe to make – you know the one I’ve been planning for years.

Still you can’t have everything - but there is always something you can do.

Last night I made myself a corned beef hash for tea. A posh one mind, courgettes and read onion, leeks and Worcester sauce, a dash of Tabasco, some chilli flakes, squares of crisply fried potato, and the best tinned corned beef available.

I love the key and can thing. How many times have I placed the slot of the key in the fine metal tongue only to find that I’ve got it wrong? How many times have I turned it half way round only to have the curl of tin unravel and snap? Answer: Too many times. But last night I managed without mishap.

I normally throw the can straight in the recycle but last night it caught my eye. It was so shiny under the red and black paper wrapping, so not quite square and thinner at the top than at the bottom, and that curl of twisted steel looked so interesting, the key so old-fashioned keyish.

Hmmmmm… what if I… and then I… and then took the key, a few nails for flames and… and what if I?

So I did.

So here it is: Dali giraffe with corned beef can. I still don’t know why I felt the need to make it, but I made it anyway. I think that I’ll stand it in the front garden and watch it weather, place it in a corner and wait for the rain and damp to render it down to rusted red, the way that weather will, and then set fire to it.

Dali giraffe with corned beef can – for your amusement and delectation.