john reeves wrote:
This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured
from B & Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel
them up and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have
been stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every
time you reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do
that successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with
this? It has crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has
lost what flexibility it did have once.

never twist them around your arm/elbow. treat them like a climber treats
rope, held in one hand and bring about 4 or 5 feet back at a time with the
length of it able to twist as it wants.