Best Before...

Best before July '96. No Shit!!!

That's the phrase that's been scratched into the bottom of the non-descript tin of foodstuffs that I believe to be sardines and has been sitting on my desk for almost as long as I've had desks at my current employer.

When I first joined, there was a guy, Harry, who was just between school and uni working for the summer in the department. He got this tin from someone called called Derek who left about a month or two after I joined. When Harry left to head Uni-ward, he handed it down to me.

I guess you could call it a department heirloom.