Old tech

Last night I reached for a bottle of wine and, to my surprise, it had a cork rather than a new-fangled screw-cap. I had to dig out my Waiter's Friend, this bit of kit. This has to be at least 35 years old - some of you might be surprised that we had metal that long ago and that we could work it into complex shapes. I might even have opened a bottle of wine for Thora Hird with this tool - she was a Sunday regular at the restaurant we worked at and I often had to take tables as cover for staff who didn't turn up. It was a matter of pride that we could present and then uncork a bottle of wine without resting it on the table. Now, of course, it's all screw-tops but back in the day that usually meant the cheapest wine in the supermarket. My wine last night was very nice too :-)