Bottle Opener
“Oh my God, I don’t have a bottle opener”, I told my friends as we began to watch the Eurovision Song Contest last night. Although it doesn’t sound all that dramatic, it was a pretty important discovery. I’d made a special effort to go to my local bottle shop to buy some Rekorderlig, a brand of cider from Sweden, so we could watch and celebrate Loreen’s win.
My friend Grant broke the bad news when he declared, “They’re not twist-tops”. “I have a can-opener. Will that work?”, I asked, grasping at straws. I checked the famous “third draw” and even under the kitchen sink to see if there might have been an implement which may have worked. Alas, nothing
With the advent of twist-top wine bottles, I can’t recall the last time I’ve needed to use a bottle or wine opener. I’ve got a couple of can-openers, of course. But when I went looking for a bottle opener, I was flummoxed. “I can’t believe I don’t have one”, I told my friends, as we settled down to twist-top beers and twist-top wine.
I guess the bottle-opener is a bit like the AM radio which I also recently discovered I no longer have at home.
On the way home from work tonight I called in to the supermarket to buy a bottle opener, and most importantly, to taste the Rekorderlig. It was a little more sweet than the pear cider I’ve previously experienced, Kopparbergs, though still very tasty.
And most importantly, for the next time someone comes to visit, I now have a bottle opener.
However, I’m also beginning to wonder what other things I no longer have.
Cassette Player
Nearly ten years ago someone bought us a very posh cork screw as a house warming gift. It was used often, for a few years, but I can’t remember the last time it was used now, but we will keep it, just in case. Another of our AM radios is about to be replaced, leaving only one bathroom radio that gets used regularly. The vcr is put away and I was wrong. There was no point in keeping it, just in case. The day arrived when floppys were no longer needed, nor the zip disk drive. Will hard drives ever be replaced by the ‘cloud’? I don’t think so. I only have something if I have it, not if it is somewhere else.
I also kept the VCR “just in case” for a while. At home a few months ago I asked my sister if she still uses her and she does – to record “Bold & The Beautiful” :) Ah, the zip drive. Wasn’t that revolutionary? I’m a bit of a fan of the cloud due to the organisation. I was always one for CDs and books in alphabetical order etc, so for me, the cloud is the ultimate organising tool. Everything in order and always able to be found.
Funnily James, the Cloud annoys me for precisely the reason you like it. It rearranged all my songs into alphabetical order taking them out of sequence from their placement in shows and leaving the odd situation of some tunes repeated three times in succession before moving on to the (alphabetical) next tune.