Dave and Gary's Top Toy Test

Bert or Ernie?

Who can handle their beer?

You have all seen them - the Bert and Ernie sesame street character inflatable baloons. You must have wondered often, as we have, which baloon would lift the most beer?

We decided to put it to the test.

The situation - Queens Day, Amsterdam.

This is an amazing day where the Dutch close the entire city centre and turn it into a wild beer swilling party. This gave us our three necessary ingredients: Bert and Ernie baloons on every street corner, an ample supply of beer, and an excuse to be rather stupid (like we need one!)

We purchased a quantity of both baloons, and several plastic tumblers of beer. The challenge was to see how many of each baloon type was required to lift a half tumblerful of beer into the sky above Amsterdam. We started with one ballon on each glass. The results were inconclusive. Each glass felt a little lighter, but there was no noticable difference, and certainly not enough lift to hold up a glass.
We then increased the number of baloons per glass until at 4 baloons the Bert glass was almost able to hover - drifting very slowly back to the table. 4 Ernies, however, were struggling to hold their half glass of prime Dutch beer.

With some level adjustment, we found we could get Bert to hold his beer almost steady, hovering in front of us most conveniently.

One more baloon proved to be conclusive. The Bert glass lifted high above the crowd, before getting caught in a tall tree overlooking Leidseplein. Poor Ernie was still strugglingto lift his beer. We watched as the wind blew at the Bert glass, causing it to sway over the heads of the unsuspecting revelers below. As some large blokes were now sitting under the glass, and several Berts had decided to make their way elsewhere, we thought it wise to leave before the inevitable happened.

BREAKING NEWS - We are all going back for Queen's Day this year - We will be in the American Hotel if you want to buy us a beer - ask the bar staff.

Result :

Bert - Holds his Beer!
Ernie - Big Girls Blouse!

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copyright Dave & Gary 1998.