Handy Household Hints No. 9 - How to fix an umbrella as a temporizing measure!

My very favourite large umbrella, which I was given for helping out at the University of Melbourne Medical School, has come to grief over recent months. It is so large and useful that I did not want to throw it out. So, how to fix it? It was easy to sew back the retaining threads where they had come loose, but fixing the struts was a tad more challenging. Lacking the necessary equipment to reattach them, I opted for using good old cable ties to fix them together so that they could still slide up and down with opening and closing of the umbrella. It's not perfect, but it is functional, so the brolly lives to fight another day!