A USEFUL IDEA

This isn't very elegant but it's s-o-o-o useful! Once upon a time I was always losing stubs of pencils in between the spuds in the supermarkets or dropping them somewhere in the car so that I couldn't cross off the items on my shopping list (recycled cardboard) or add any that I'd just thought of.
I saw a picture of Chaucer, that well-known medieval poet, who appeared to have something similar hanging round his neck so I adopted/adapted his idea.
It's just an ordinary pencil, as you can see, with a piece of window blind cord taped to it. That makes it very visible in the car where it can be just about anywhere - a length of wool is OK, too, but not so easily seen, and breaks in time. Nothing like recycling! I wear it as a 'necklace' and so far no-one has commented on it.
Talking about supermarkets, does anyone have any idea where I can get blocks of dates for cake making? Supermarkets don't keep them any more (even if the assistant knows what you are talking about, everyone is so young...) nor does the Julian Graves store. My daughter has sent some from Holland where she got them on a Turkish market stall but they are rather like a dense puree with no resemblance to separate dates at all...