The Bottle Opener

Late afternoon to early evening, at sundowner time, I enjoy a beer. I've drunk a beer at this time for many years, the beers varying according to my location. So, when I lived in Essex, the beer was a bitter which Mrs MW brewed, forty pints at a time, and very good it was too. In Suffolk I enjoyed Adnams' Ghost Ship, in Jamaica I enjoyed Red Stripe, in Rhodesia Lion or Castle, on Tanzania holidays I drank Tusker, a beer I remember from my youth, and now, here in Scotland, it's an IPA or a 'gold' from one of the Scottish breweries, currently....

....Trade Winds from the Cairngorm brewery. This comes in a bottle with a crown cork, so I need a bottle opener.

Happily, some years ago Mrs MW brought home this one which she found in the charity shop where she worked. It's made of metal with a now rather worn copper coating and celebrates a country which no longer exists under its colonial era name of....

....Swaziland. Instead, in 2018, it was renamed Eswatini. It's a small kingdom with a rich history, a landlocked country surrounded by South Africa.

I love my bottle opener. For a start - and most importantly - although it's slightly crude, it does a very effective job in removing a cap. I also love the elephant, which reminds me of the excitement of watching those magnificent beasts in the game parks of Tanzania and Kenya. And every time I use it, it re-establishes a small link back to the colonial era which I experienced in my early years in Africa.

As with so many old objects like this, I'd love to know its story. Who bought it? Who was it for? What was he/she doing in Swaziland? Who has owned - and, presumably, used it - in the years since?  And what caused someone to bring it to the charity shop? All, of course, and sadly, questions which can never be answered.