Here’s a guy who is nuttier than even our nutty unicyclist… meet Peanutman!
The world is full of nutters. And most of them live right here in Umdloti, South Africa. Nutters with big nuts and even bigger hearts. Like our Heartman (Geoff Brink) who, as most Hatpeople will by now have realised, will ride a unicycle on the Heart & Sole Tour from Durban to Cape Town to raise awareness of the Sole of Africa’s campaign against landmines which still rip the limbs off people, mostly women and children living in impoverished rural villages, long after the warmongers have packed their artillery away for another day.
Heartman is a nutter. And a lovable one who can’t do enough to help people less fortunate than himself. So it’s nice to stumble upon another of his ilk, a man doing something similar far away over the oceans in London.
He is Mark McGowan, who decided he had to do something to highlight the plight of starving children in Africa. And promote a nutritious foodstuff which can help to save thousands of lives. The main ingredient of Plumpynut is peanut butter. So today, on World Hunger Day, Mark smothered his body with peanut butter and began a 24-hour ride for Action Against Hunger around London… on a childrens’ tricycle.
Let’s get a taster of what Mark is doing for the fight against hunger (for those with slower connections, please hit “Pause” and wait for the vid to fully buffer before watching)…
I am loving Mark’s vibe. I can’t stand peanutbutter so it was difficult to watch that. But I’m lucky enough not to be starving. Like most, if not all, of you. Yet very few of us get off our lardy asses and do something about the travesties that blight our planet. Such as landmines and starvation. Geoff Brink and Mark McGowan do. You can read more about Geoff here and Mark here.
Imagine smearing yourself with peanut butter – urk! – and tricycling around the streets of London for 24 hours? Londoners, accustomed to seeing people at their nuttiest, probably assumed he was just taking peanut butter around to his gran’s for afternoon tea. Never mind. That’s how they roll in Londontown.
Peanutman is rolling – very strenuously – for a very good cause. I applaud his spirit and wish him well on his tricyclethon today. I only wish he had used the far more palatable Marmite. Which gives me an idea for old Heartman’s 1,700km unicyclethon from Durban to Cape Town. I’m sure he’ll be willing to smear himself with the good black stuff for the ride. Marmiteman has a good ring to it, doesn’t it? And we won’t be short of something to eat… unlike the 19 million kids in the world who are going hungry.